The Sound of Falling Rain
by DOTMW
Summary: When you don't know who you are, ask who knows you best. Ask who will take you in out of the falling rain and put you back together as best they can. A story of love, friends, betrayal, family and hot chocolate. Pokeshipping. AAML. Ash/Misty. Anime/Games
1. The Pieces Scatter

_Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction created for entertainment purposes only. The author does not own Pokemon nor is affiliated with Nintendo, Gamefreak, TV Tokyo or Pokemon USA. _

_Ash/Misty, Pokeshipping, AAML_

_T+ for Sensuality, Suggestive Situations and Language _

_Ages and Background Info in the Author's Note at the end _

* * *

_The Sound of Falling Rain_

_When you lose sight of who you are, ask who knows you the best_

_

* * *

_

**I**

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

The sound of falling rain always had a strangely hypnotic effect on Misty. Ever since she was a little girl, the sound of rain could always catch her attention long enough for her to get lost in the beat of drops splish-splashing against the ground.

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

Misty counted the drops as they hit the windowsill, drumming a pencil against her leg in hypnotic rhythm with the falling rain.

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

It had been raining endlessly in Cerulean City since last Friday and as much as Misty loved the rain, the foggy gloom that lingered over the Gym was starting to bum her out. The sky was hidden with a thick layer of black clouds that made it hard to tell what time it was beyond looking at the clock.

Speaking of which, Misty shot a look at the Starmie clock on the wall. Five-thirty. How long had she been sitting there? She remembered coming in to work on her League paperwork with her coffee early that morning…she must have lost track of time

Misty rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand. It had been a good day; well, productive at least. She always blocked Sundays off to deal with the piles of paperwork that inevitably stacked up during the week. Between the challenge requests, badge reports, league verifications for her assistant trainers ("minions" as Brock affectionately called them), basic maintenance forms, Pokèmon chum orders, live feeder fishing orders, and training plans, Misty needed a whole day to catch up on the week's rolls of red tape.

Misty looked at the stack of remaining paperwork and decided she'd done enough for one day. Depending on whether or not Brianna and Parker picked off her matches for tomorrow, there would be time to complete the latest inspection pending forms while her trainers deterred her potential combatants.

Turning now to her stack of mail, Misty quickly started weeding through the mound of envelopes that had been piling up all week. Junk, challenge, junk, bill, bill, junk, bill, bill, bill, bill junk, fan-mail, junk, junk, take-out coupon, junk, junk, league inspection notice, junk, junk, junk, junk, postcard, junk, bill, ad, chall-

Misty paused after tossing an ad for the new noodle restaurant in the trash. A colorful postcard stood out from the regular assortment of junk mail and bills. A sunny beach was set against a tropical hill and a nonexistent wind rustled the frozen trees in an aesthetically pleasing way that made Misty wonder if it was somehow photoshopped. A couple of people were skipping down the beach, holding hands and a trainer was playing with a Milotic in the water. The caption read _Aloha from the Sevii Islands! _

Misty fingered the edges of the card and for a second she thought about tossing it in her drawer without reading it. She knew what it said; hell, she had quite a collection of postcards and letters from exotic locals piling up in her drawer. If pressed, she could probably predict every line written on the back but after much deliberation, she decided to flip it over and read the neat, flowery script.

* * *

_Dear Mist,_

_The Sevii Islands are soooooo beautiful! We have a few days off before we take our show to Sunyshore so we stopped by to catch some sun._

_The crowds have been pretty good for the last few weeks (thanks in no small part to the article in Gym Frenzy, thank you very much). We expect a bigger crowd once we hit Sinnoh but then again Sevii are smaller islands…oops, I'm babbling!_

_Violet and Lily and off chasing the pool boys but I saw this in the gift shop and thought of sending my favorite little sis a hello. So, hi from Lily and Violet too! Take care and let me know how you are! It wouldn't kill you to send us a card, ya know?_

_333 XXooXoOo 333_

_Daisy (and LiLy and Vi!!) _

_

* * *

  
_

Misty smirked in spite of herself, imagining Lily and Violet scribbling their names in over Daisy's shoulder. It figured the two middle girls would be more interested in the native Sevii boys than the native Pokèmon but then again, her sisters had always been like that. It's just as well that they took their aquatic show on an extended tour and left her with the gym; for all their style and flair, her sisters were _awful _Gym leaders.

There was no denying that Misty was a better trainer than all three sisters put together. In a few short years, Cerulean Gym had risen in infamy from a backwater pushover to a name synonymous with aquatic destruction. With her at the helm, Cerulean Gym had become an epicenter for Pokèmon League hopeful looking to take the closest thing to Lorelei this side of the Elite Four.

Still…even though the idea of floating around in a skimpy bathing suit while doing water ballet with Pokèmon made Misty chuckle, she couldn't help but feel a familiar twinge of envy for her older sisters. As much as she was happy that her sisters found an audience for their show, she couldn't totally suppress her jealousy for her sister's freedom. It's not as though she was bitter; there were just days when the Gym really piled it on and she felt like she should be scrubbing floors, riding in pumpkin carriages and singing to talking mice…

"_Zu-marill Marill!" _

Speaking of talking mice…

Misty felt a tug at the corner of her sweats. She looked down to see Azumarill looking up at her with his signature pout. "What's the matter, boy?" Misty asked, pulling him up onto her lap. "You want to eat?"

"_Zu." _Azumarill said glumly, folding his little arms.

"Okay, okay…just let me finish these papers-hey!" Misty cried out in surprise as Azumarill grabbed her stack of papers and shoved them in her box marked "To Do."

"Hey I wasn't done with th-HEY!" Azumarill jumped up on her desk and smacked Misty in the nose with his tail when she reached for her work. He stood there, glaring at her, moving over to block her from getting at the papers again.

"_Marill!" _Azumarill said in a way that suggested that his trainer wasn't getting at her paperwork anytime soon.

"Well…" Misty looked up at the clock. "I guess I've done enough for one day."

"_Marill-mar!" _Azumarill said happily, jumping off the desk and dashing into the kitchen.

********************************************************************************************************************************************************************

Misty dumped the last bucket of bait fish into the tank, watching as they squirmed away into the deep end of the pool to join their doomed friends. Misty walked over to a console and with a flip of a few switches, announced "Dinner Time" to her larger Pokèmon. She stayed long enough to make sure Gyarados and Tentacruel didn't fight over the biggest fish before closing the aquarium down for the night.

"Night everyone!" She called out as the lights dimmed. A string of garbled cries and squawks answered her as she went upstairs to fix her own dinner.

The Gym apartment was at the far edge of the gym on the side of the building facing Cerulean Cape. Growing up with Lily, Daisy and Violet, the apartment always seemed too crowded. Now having the little studio loft to herself, Misty found herself with more space than she knew what to do with. The main room housed the living room, dining room and kitchen in a large open space. A hallway to the side led to a bathroom and three bedrooms that the girls had slept in when they were younger. The whole west wall had been recently knocked down and replaced with three large picture windows that gave her a perfect view of the stormy coast through the drizzle.

Azumarill had beaten her to the kitchen and began his nightly ritual of wrestling with the pickle jar. He was trying something new tonight, wedging the base between the fridge and the door and gnawing at the lid with his teeth. Misty's snort of laughter caused Azumarill to glare at her poisonously before reluctantly taking the jar for her to open.

"Nice try, honey." Misty said, popping the lid off. "Try again when you grow thumbs and then maybe you'll get somewhere." She fished a single pickle out and offered it to him. "You can start with this one and then we'll see about-HEY!" Azumarill jumped up and snatched the jar from Misty's hand, scurrying off and cramming pickles in his mouth.

Misty stood staring after him, holding a pickle in her hand in mute shock. "Is it just me, or has he gotten brattier since he evolved from Marill?" She wondered out loud

Misty followed the trail of pickle juice across the room into her "living room" where Azumarill had plopped himself on the couch, waving the TV remote impatiently at Misty. "Alright, alright! Take it easy you little couch potato…let's see what's on tonight." Misty turned on the TV with a soft _click. _

"…_and he ends with a flawless Magical Leaf! How Beautiful!" _

_Click_

"_Oh Beatrice! I know what you did! I know what you did with Tentacruel!" _

_Click_

"_Hey I'm Seanny X and today on Numbnutz I'm gonna kick this Garchomp in the n-"_

_Click_

"…_But thankfully, no Dewgong were harmed." _Misty settled on the nightly news station just at the anchorwoman finished a story cleverly titled "**Dew-gone**?" The camera panned out and the anchorwoman turned to the sportscaster for his segment. "_Well now we'll turn it over to Chip Shetland who, as I understand, has a bit of a story brewing over at the Sinnoh Cup_."

"Oh yeah…" Misty murmured to herself. "The Sinnoh Cup is today, isn't it?" She had remembered Delia mentioning it when the two of them met for lunch the month before. Apparently, Ash was a favorite to take the Sinnoh Championship this year though that wasn't a surprise.

The sportscaster smiled the way sportscasters smile, giving a side chuckle to the anchor before turning to the camera. "_Well, you could say something like that, Diane! It's more of a situation really! For more, we're joined by our sister station in Sinnoh and Leann Jenkins is going to tell us all about it. Leann?_" The screen split and a weather beaten, but thrilled young woman stood in front of what Misty assumed was the Sinnoh Elite Four building.

"_Thanks Chip. Well, once a foregone conclusion, this year's Sinnoh Cup has been blown wide open with the disappearance of one of the favorites to win_."

Misty couldn't help but chuckle. When the annual cups rolled around, the Gym Leaders made bets as to which of the top contenders would freak out under pressure and go AWOL before the championship matches. They were usually young rising stars who suddenly found themselves thrust into the spotlight without the skills to deal with a fickle audience. This year, Misty had her money on a dark horse from Twinleaf Town (Larry, was it? Luke? Lucas!).

The reporter went on. "_In a surprising move, one of this year's senior trainers has failed to report for the check in and efforts to find them have been fruitless_."

"_Marill?" _Azumarill looked up at Misty with questioning eyes.

"Nope." Misty replied, helping herself to a pickle from the jar. "They're wasting their time. Whoever this is, they're not going to show." Misty sat up. "Come one, Lucas! Mama needs a new automatic aquarium cleaner!"

"_In a stunning turn off events-"_ The reporter continued.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! We're all _stunned_! Get on with it!"

"_Kanto Trainer-"_

"Damnit!" Misty groaned. "It's that Kris girl, isn't it?"

"_Ash Ketchum has gone missing as of twelve o'clock this afternoon_. "

"ACK!"

"_Zu!" _

Azumarill jumped up and started hitting Misty on the back, trying to dislodge the chunk of pickle she had accidentally inhaled.

"_When we talked to the hotel manager, he said that Mr. Ketchum had checked out shortly before-"_

_Ash…was missing? _The reporter was saying something else but her words were lost on Misty who was still trying to rationalize the reporter's impossible statement. To imply that Ash had gone missing would imply that no one knew where he was which meant that he wasn't at the arena which meant he wouldn't get there in time for check ins which _meant _he…he wasn't competing.

That didn't make any sense.

"_Zu?" _Misty looked down to see Azumarill tugging on her pant leg in concern.

"Huh…" Misty shook her head. She must have zoned out for a minute because the news program had moved on to a gossip segment about how the Sunyshore Gym Leader had been seen had been seen on the beach with some contest coordinator.

"Oh…no I'm fine." Misty said, rubbing Azumarill's ears. "Don't worry about me…here."

_Click_

"_Hey You, Pikachu!" _

"_Pikapika!" _

"Watch this for a bit." Misty said, picking up the phone. "I'll be right back."

* * *

_Riiing…._

"Nngh…"

_Riiiing…_

"Hmm…wha…."

_Riiing…_

_Riiing…_

Gary fumbled around his desk for the phone a few times before answering with a weary. "Hmm?"

"_Uh…Gary?" _

"Mmm…" Gary shook his head a few times, dislodging a research note that had stuck to his face. "Yeah…this is Gary Oak. Who's cyyyaaaaaaaang…." Gary trailed off in a long yawn. "Sorry. Who's calling?"

"_It's Misty. Sorry, did I wake you?_"

"Oh no…I was just…thinking." Gary said, unsure what to say. He and Misty had never been close, only really knowing each other through Ash and Delia. So her calling him out of the blue was certainly cause for alarm. "So what's up?"

"_I…I was calling to see if you had heard anything from Ash lately." _

Gary frowned to himself. "No…last time we talked was about three weeks ago. He wanted to change Pokèmon before the Sinnoh Cup. Actually I think that's where he is now: isn't that today?"

"_Yeah, that's what I thought too…listen, Ash didn't show up for the check in and now no one knows where he is." _

"What?!" Gary could almost hear Misty recoil from his sudden outburst. "What happened to him?! Do the police know about it?!'

"_No but-"_

"He could have been kidnapped!" Gary stood up, shaking off his lab coat and going to the closet. "I bet it was Team Galactic! They're still sore that we broke their little cult up so they took him hostage!"

"_Gary…" _

"They could be after us next!" Gary said, pulling his coat on. "They still remember that we helped Ash take Cyrus down!"

"_Gary." _

Gary set the phone down as he stuck his head out the back door. "Umbreon! Scramble the troops; we got trouble!" He turned back inside, quickly filling a pack with potions and herbs while talking quickly. "Look Misty, get your best team together and then get out of the Gym!"

"_Gary!" _

"Meet me in Pewter City behind the Pokèmon Center and-"

"_GARY!" _

"What?! What is it?!"

"_Put the panic attack on hold for two seconds and listen to me!" _Misty took a deep breath on the other end of the line. "_Ash checked out of his hotel room himself. He left on his own." _

Gary froze in mid pack. "Wait…what?"

"_As far as I know, he just vanished. No note, no message…nothing." _

"Oh…okay." Gary set his bag down. "So that's why you called me? You think he came to Pallet?"

"_Well, that would make sense; if someone just up and leaves before the biggest tournament of the year you would think he would go home, right?" _

"Yeah…" Gary looked out his window at the Ketchum house down the hill. "I don't see any lights on. I remember Delia saying she was going to Goldenrod for the weekend. Does she…"

"_No. I haven't called her. I was hoping we could get this all sorted out before she has to find out." _

"Well, it won't take long for this to hit the news so we have to work fast." Gary said, waving off Umbreon and Arcanine who had come in the back door. "Have you called his Pokègear?"

"_A couple times but I think he has it off." _

"Okay …well who else have you called so far?" Gary said, fishing his phone book out of his desk clutter.

"_You're the first. Brock's at some conference in Veilstone so the gym's empty there." _

"Doesn't mean he didn't go there." Gary pointed out. "Though if Brock isn't there, he probably left."

"_That's a good point…damn…"_

"What's wrong?" Gary asked

"_I just wish I knew what was going on…this is so unlike him." _

"I'm sure there's a good reason he didn't show up…listen stay on the line, I'm going to patch you through to someone…"

* * *

In Petalberg City, two coordinators burst out of the contest hall trailing a very unhappy trainer behind them.

"What was wrong with Blaziken's Fire Blast?"

"It overpowered Gallade's Magical Leaf! You could hardly see the updraft I was going for!"

"Hey…guys, could we just-"

"Oh so when I upstage you, it's a classical tragedy. But when Absol starts tripping over Glaceon-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, **whoa**! _Tripping_?!"

"Oh, beg pardon, mi'lord! How _ill-bred_ of me to not see the grand scheme you had! Pray tell Master Drew, how was Absol crashing into Glaceon part of your plan for winning us the Team Ribbon?!"

"Oh I don't know, May…whose idea was it to freeze the contest floor in the first place!?"

"It was for a mirror effect! I didn't hear you complain about it when we were practicing!"

"We…didn't…practice…on…a… god…damned…_ICE RINK!" _

_Briiing! Briing! Briing!_

"Hey guys! Cap it for a second!" _Click. _"Hello, Brendon Birch speaking…oh hey Gary." Brendon plugged his ear and snuck away from bickering companions. "I was about to call you with that info on the Caravine in-" Brendon shot a look at May who had apparently postponed wringing Drew's neck to listen in. "Um…yeah, she's here." Brendon shrugged when Drew shot him a questioning look. Brendon offered the phone to May. "It's Gary Oak…"

"Your research correspondence?" Drew asked.

"Ash's friend." May said, taking the phone. "Hello…uh, hi Gary I-Misty? What're you…no…no, I haven't seen him I…wait…WHAT?! What do you mean he…but…yeah, I have her number." May took her own Pokègear out. "No, look…okay, stay on the line…I'll patch you through."

"What happened?" Drew asked. "What's wrong?"

"We don't know where Ash is." May said, dialing a number on her Pokègear.

* * *

"_I know_."

"_Wait…you know?" _May asked.

" _Vol-a friend at the league told me before the press leaked it."_ Dawn' voice said. "_I called Ash a few times but he didn't answer. He was scheduled for a-"_

"_Check in and he never showed up. That much we do know." _Brendon's voice cut it

"_Uh…yeah, that's right…May, who else is there?"_ Dawn asked

"_Well Drew and Brendon are here with me…" _

"_Hey." _Drew said

"_What's up?" _Brendon added.

"_And actually it was Misty and Gary Oak who called us from Kanto." _May finished.

"_Oh! Hi guys!"_ Dawn said cheerfully.

"_Hey Dawn." _Gary said.

"We were hoping someone knew where he was."Misty added, now pacing her kitchen floor. _"_Ash bailing on a match is…"

"_It's not exactly like him, is it?"_ Dawn said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Misty sighed

"_Maybe he just didn't want to compete this year." _Drew suggested. "_Maybe he didn't think he had a shot." _

"_Not having a shot has never stopped him before." _Gary said with a rough laugh. "_He's entered hopeless tournaments and got __**whipped**__ just for the experience."_

"_Maybe he got scared…" _Brendon suggested.

"Ash doesn't get scared."Misty said, a little sharper than she intended. "He's never run out on a challenge without good reason and _getting scared_ is not a good enough reason."

"_I'm just saying it's a possibility." _Brendon said defensively. "_God knows I got scared when I got overwhelmed by-"_

"What scares Ash and what scares you are two different things and worlds apart._" _Misty interrupted, a little harsher than she intended_. "_**Lesser **trainers get intimidated. **Lesser **trainers get scared and run. **Lesser **trainers might "overwhelmed." Ash. Does. Not."

"_Hey, hey, hey_!" Dawn said. _"Let's all just calm down. Brendon doesn't know Ash that well…he was just trying to help, right?" _

Misty took a deep breath. "I know…I know…I'm sorry Brendon. I didn't mean that…it's…this is just…and-"

"_Hey, I'm probably wrong" _Brendon said_. "I was just throwing ideas out there." _

"_I hope you're wrong…" _May said, taking the phone back. "_I don't even want to think about what could make Ash willingly drop out of a competition."_

"_I know what you mean. I think I'd be less worried about him if he _had_ been kidnapped." _Dawn said with an audible shudder. "_At least then we'd know what was wrong and what we could do to help. Um…Misty?"_

"Yeah?"

"_So…you haven't heard from him at all?" _

"No…that's why I'm calling you." Misty said, a little confused.

"_Why do you ask?" _May asked.

"_Well…"_ There was a pause that suggested Dawn was choosing her words carefully. "_When V-my friend told me what had happened… the first thing I thought of was to call you." _

"Me?"Misty asked.

"_Well I figured if Ash disappeared, you'd know where he was."_ Dawn said. _"I figured he'd go home to Kanto and…he'd stop by your gym." _

"_She has a point." _May said. "_I don't know about you, Dawn but back when I traveled with him, Ash would never let us pass by Cerulean City without visiting you, Misty." _

"_Huh…I never really thought about it but now that I do… it makes sense: apart from Gary, you've known him the longest, Misty."_ Dawn said. _"And if something was wrong, seriously wrong…I think he would go to you first."_

"Uh…okay…"Misty said, feeling her cheeks heat up a little. "Well, like I said, I haven't seen him. Do you…do you really think he'll come here?"

"_The way I see it, he's either going to turn up here, or in Cerulean City." _Gary said. "_And depending on how fast he's flying, he may be close now." _

"_If you ask me, I don't think we have anything to worry about."_ Dawn said. _"He's only been missing for a few hours; I think it's a little early to start panicking." _

"You could be right there…Gary, are we overreacting?" Misty asked and for a few seconds Gary didn't respond.

"_If it was anyone else..." _Gary said thoughtfully. "_If anyone else disappeared…no, _**ran out**_ like this…then, yeah we'd be overreacting. But…" _

"But...this is Ash." Misty said. No one asked for clarification; that was all that needed to be said.

* * *

_"Hey, this is Ash! Looks like you missed me but leave me a message and I'll get back to you ASAP!" _

_"Pika!"_

_BEEP. _

"Hey, Ash…it's Misty. I was just calling to see how things were so…call me back as soon as you get this. Okay, bye."

Misty replaced the phone in the cradle and suddenly found herself at a loss for what to do. There wasn't a lot more she _could _do except hope that Dawn was right and that Ash would turn up. Maybe Dawn was right; maybe Ash would come to her. If that were the case, what would she say?

"_Hey Ash! Nice to see you! So do you want to tell me why you decided to up and quit a tournament you spent a year preparing for or do I have to guess?" _

Misty gave a weak chuckle at the thought. That would be a nice way of greeting him after almost a year apart.

The thought prompted Misty to walk across the kitchen to pick up her favorite picture. It was the most recent, most complete picture of her friends gathered together. Misty couldn't help but smile at the worn, ragged group smiling up at her from the picture frame; it was their luck that the only time they could all get together was when the universe was being threatened by a lunatic. Still, they looked happy and that made Misty happy just looking it.

Ash was at the center of the picture, flanked on his left by Brock and his right by Misty herself. He had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other draped around Brock's shoulder. It was one of the few pictures she had of him without his hat and his hair stuck up in all sorts of strange directions from the wind blowing on top the Spear Pillar.

To Brock's left was Gary, trying his best to look badass and nonchalant but unable to suppress a relieved smile. Next to him was Brendon Birch, a newcomer to the group as May and Drew's latest traveling companion. He had an incredulous look on his face; like he couldn't believe that he was still alive. Next to him, May draped her arms around a flustered looking Drew who was trying to smile while shooting a glance at a very peeved looking Norman to his left.

To Misty's right, Dawn had one arm draped across Misty's shoulders, smiling shyly at the camera. Cynthia, the long-reigning Sinnoh Champion was to her right, laughing at Flint who had latched his arms around the neck of a very uncomfortable Volkner just as the flash went off. Most unusual of all were the two off to the side of Volkner and Flint. In exchange for amnesty and time-served, the ex Team Rocketeers Jessie and James were brought on as "criminal consultants." They stood off to the side of her friends but in a warped way, they were as much a part of the group as anyone else. Even though they had been legitimate for about a year and she never really hated either of them, Misty doubted whether or not she would ever be friends with her former enemies.

It was a messy, chaotic picture but that was why it was Misty's favorite. It was uncut and rough and showed her friends the way they were meant to be seen; beaten, bruised but ultimately triumphant together. It had been a year since they all stood on top of the Spear Pillar, having thwarted the umpteenth threat against the world since they were kids.

Team Galactic was worse than anything any of them had faced. It spoke to their complete monstrosity that Misty actually wished for the days of Team Rocket. Stealing Pokèmon for profit was at least predictable and relatively tame compared to blowing up swamps and threatening legitimate world destruction. The devastation caused was so catastrophic that the Kanto, Hoenn and Sinnoh Leagues authorized a task force made up of Ash and anyone he could get to help him out.

It surprised no one that, after almost a year of training solo, he came to Misty, Gary and Brock first. May had come as soon as Ash had called, bringing Drew and Brendon along with her. Norman tried to dissuade May from going but in the end opted for joining the team to watch over her (he drew the line at Max coming with him; much to the latter's dismay). They had been reluctant about calling Dawn, seeing as she lacked the battle experience of the others, but her addition brought Cynthia (who came to supervise the Sinnoh group), Volkner (who Dawn befriended while vacationing in Sunyshore) and Flint (who came with Volkner for "kicks and gigs").

Ash cut deals, made promises and eventually threw together a team that proved to be more than enough for Team Galactic to handle. In a matter of months, their organization was dismantled and Cyrus' last ditch attempt to summon a legendary Pokèmon had failed. They had won once again and even though they faced death twice day, Ash never lost the glint of determination in his eye.

Which made this situation all the more terrifying for Misty. If Ash quit, it meant something shook him bad enough to make him quit. And since Ash had swatted down mythological Pokèmon without batting an eyelash, the idea of something scaring him scared Misty. Before today, she couldn't think of anything bad enough to scare Ash into giving up.

And now Ash was missing.

"_Marill…" _Misty looked down to see Azumarill shaking the phone at her. .

"Not now…" Misty sighed, waving him off.

"_Azu!" _Azumarill insisted.

"I just called him." Misty said.

"_Zumarill!" _Azumarill said, brandishing the phone insistently.

"I'll call him again when I-OW!" Misty winced as Azumarill chucked the phone at her. "Alright! Alright!" Misty said, dialing the number. "I'll call him! Happy?"

"_Zu." _

No sooner did Misty dial Ash's number did Azumaril's ears suddenly perk up. Misty jumped slightly as her Pokèmon's suddenly hopped up from the couch and started tugging her pant leg.

"What?! I'm calling him!" Misty said.

"_Zu! Marill!" _Azumarill tugged at his ears.

"You…hear something?" Misty asked as Azumarill pulled her down the stairs and towards the large double doors at the opposite end of the Gym. "Zu, what are you-" She stopped when she heard a faint ringing growing louder as she approached the doors. After a second, the call went to the answering machine and the ringing stopped. Misty crept towards the door, bare feet sliding quietly across the bare floor. For a second, she stood and listened…

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

There was only the rain. After a few seconds, Misty hit the call button again.

_Briing!_

_Briing! _

She was about to open the door when a rough whisper stopped her.

_Briing! _

"_Pi! Pikachu!" _

"Answer it? Why don't I just knock?"

_Briing!_

"_PiPika! Pikpika pi! Chu!" _

"I…what?! I haven't been ignoring her calls! We've been in the air for the last six hours unless you-"

"_Pikapi, pi pi Pikachu!" _

_Briing! _

_"_I…that's not it, and you know it!"

_Briing! _

"_Pi Pi Chu?" _

"I…don't…I just want to…" Without waiting for him to finish his thought, Misty flung open the door.

And there he was.

He was completely soaked; his hat dangled dripping from one hand while he held his phone in the other. Pikachu was tucked in his coat against his body, looking up at his trainer in mid argument when Misty opened the door, startling them both. For a five tense, agonizing seconds, neither one said anything. In that time, a thousand and one thoughts whirled through Misty's head. But at the end, all she could say was-

"Ash."

Ash blinked a few times in surprise then gave Misty a tentative smile. "Hey, Misty."

**

* * *

AN: The First chapter in a fairly long Pokemon oneshot (broken up to make it more digestible). I write what I like to read and I haven't seen a story like this before. I'm planning on uploading pretty quickly so feedback on each part would be greatly, greatly, GREATLY appreciated**. **I'm proud of this little ficcie, but I'd like to know what you felt I did right and what could be worked on. So please let me know what you thought!**

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**_Ages and Background info _**

**(The Ages in the anime are a bit ambiguous so I decided to assign ages based on relative age to when the series came out) _  
_**

**Ages **(English Names)

Brock, Volkner-22

Misty-21

Ash, Gary-20

May, Drew, Brendon-19

Dawn-18

Max-17

**Background Info **

This is set ten years after the start of the anime series.

After going through the different leagues a few times, Ash started bouncing around, generally honing his skills and building a reputation for himself. Nicknamed "the Crownless King" he generally competes well, but has never ascended to League champion. Still, there is hardly a battle commentator in the world who wouldn't put him at the top of their best trainer lists. At the start of this story, he has been traveling alone for four years.

Misty has headed the Cerulean Gym since she left Ash's company. When she's not managing the ins and outs of working at the Gym, she's honing her skills with Water Pokèmon. As it stands, Cerulean City is usually the _last _Gym a trainer challenges before challenging the Elite Four due to Misty's near mastery of Water Pokèmon. At the start of this story her sisters have taken their show on the road, leaving her in complete charge of the Gym

May has continued traveling from contest to contest, taking a few years off here and there to spend at home but mostly moving around. While her friends have come and gone, she's never without two or three traveling companions to pass the time with. A relentless perfectionist, her passion for coordinating drives her to find new and exciting ways to compete. At the start of this story, she is on her third world contest tour.

Drew figured out that it was a lot easier to keep up with May if he just ended up traveling with her. They still compete fiercely and occasionally bicker, but the animosity has long since been left behind. They frequently edge each other out for who is the more gifted coordinator that week. At the start of his story, he has been traveling with May for almost two years.

Gary has taken over his grandfather's lab to let the Professor explore the world a little before he retires. His researches through proxy, hiring trainers to send data back to his lab and study the Pokèmon they have caught. At the start of this story, he continues to research through correspondence with Brendon Birch

Brendon Birch (the son of Professor Birch, to everyone's surprise) joined May's party when his mom moved out to Hoenn to be with his father. Having been through the Kanto league, he was eager to set off for the Hoenn league and joined up with May and Drew (much to the latter's displeasure). He acts as the balancing element in the group, often quelling his friend's heated arguments. He works for Gary, providing valuable research information about his battles. At the start of the story, he is in Petalberg City preparing for a Gym battle against Norman

Dawn has spent the last few years enjoying small celebrity. A seasoned coordinator in her own right, she found herself being asked for advice by younger trainers. With the encouragement of her friends, she published a book (entitled _Joy and the Art of Pokèmon Coordinating_) to surprising success. She became the youngest Sinnoh Contest Champion on her 18th birthday and has spent the last six months before the story living in Sunyshore, helping to set up a contest hall while writing a follow-up to her latest book (Part autobiography, part beginner's guide to Pokemon adventuring.)

This takes place a year after the defeat of Team Galactic. Basically the same plot in the Diamond and Pearl games. Ash and Co. Teamed up and beat them down to bring peace to the world.


	2. Picking Up The Pieces

_**The Sound of Falling Rain**_

**Part II of III **

"_It is not so much our friends' help that helps us as the confident knowledge that they __**will**__ help us."_

_--Epicurus _

_

* * *

  
_

Ash grinned hesitantly at Misty while her thoughts went a little something like this…

_He's here. Dammit, Dawn was right. What happened? Is something wrong? How did he get here so fast? God, he's here. Is he alright? Why does he look so tired (__**Because he just travelled halfway around the world, you idiot!**__) He's here. He came to me…__**why me? **__Should I say something? Does he want to talk? Maybe nothing's wrong. Wow, did he get taller? (__**Focus!) **__Maybe he just didn't feel like competing this year (__**Of COURSE something's wrong!!!) **__Okay…what should I say? Hey, how are you? (__**That sounds dumb) **__Do you want to talk? (__**Too blunt.) **__Okay…need to say something. Come on…say something Anything…any words will do. Say…something! He's here…_

"_Pipika!" _Pikachu cried happily, jumping out of Ash's coat and tackling Misty in a tiny hug.

"Hey there, Pikachu." Misty said, tousling his wet fur. "What a surprise; what are you two doing here?" She said cheerfully feigning innocence.

Behind him, Ash gave a small chuckle as he teetered on the edge of the doorway. "We were just passing through and thought we'd stop by." He scratched the back of his head. "If it's a bad time we'll-"

"No!" Misty blurted out. "No, it's…it's good to see you."

"Uh…you too." He said sheepishly.

"Thanks…" Misty responded, silently cursing herself._ (Thanks?! Did I just say "thanks?!" How is that an appropriate response to "You too?!")_

Misty's head was moving too fast for her mouth to keep up. She didn't know what to say; Ash was acting so normal that there was something _unusual_ about it. He had gone missing from the biggest tournament of the year, apparently _flew_ halfway around the world only to turn up on her doorstep as if he was just passing through the neighborhood. What's more, the smile he gave her barely tugged the corners of his lips and never quite reached his eyes. There was awkwardness in the way he walked that had never been there before. He looked…lost. Like everything around him was bizarre and alien. The changes were small and to anyone else, they would have gone unnoticed. But to Misty, it was as obvious as if somethinghad come and split his chest open, leaving him bleeding on her front porch. Something was missing; spark and spunk had been savagely ripped out and stolen.

"I'd hug you now but you're soaked!" Misty said, smiling and setting Pikachu down to greet Azumarill. "This storm isn't going to get any better tonight…want to come in for a bit?"

"Um…" Pikachu briefly shot an indecipherable look at his trainer. "Sure…can I change first?" Ash asked, wringing his shirt out. "It's been kind of a long flight…"

"Of course, of course…" Misty said, leading him back towards the loft. "Was it bad all the way here? I haven't been out all day."

"I haven't seen it rain this bad in years." Ash was saying, shaking his hair out. "Not since that whole Team Aqua thing went down."

"Let's hope it doesn't get that bad again." Misty said, finding her voice but unable to say anything meaningful.

There were a thousand and one things Misty wanted to do as she watched Ash slip past her into the apartment. More than anything, she wanted to help him. Her oldest (_best) _friend had shown up on her doorstep soaked and freezing after flying halfway around the world to get out of a tournament. She wanted to hug him, wet clothes and all. She wanted to turn on the TV to the evening news and get him to explain why the anchor was talking about him missing. She wanted to grab him by the lapels and shake him until he told her what was wrong. She wanted to call everyone else so they could yell at him with her. But he had come to her. Out of everyone else, he came back to her.

So, she'd have to be the one to figure out why.

* * *

***He's here***

Misty punched a short message in and sent it off to half the people in her contact list. She could at least afford everyone else a little peace of mind and let them know he was safe. There would probably a stream of calls and texts pouring after her message but for the moment, Misty was more concerned with six large, hungry Pokèmon invading her living room.

Pikachu sat on the table with Azumarill, munching on a few pickles covered in ketchup (Misty always kept a bottle in the cabinet for Pikachu) chattering and laughing away As soon as Ash left to take a shower (Misty insisted he wash off the smell of the road first) Pikachu let the rest of his team out to stretch their limbs. Staraptor was still tired from what Misty guessed was the longest flight of his life so Misty sent him off to roost in the Pelliper exhibit for the night. The large bird gave a weak squawk of thanks before tucking his head under his wing and falling asleep. As soon as this whole thing with Ash was sorted out, she was going to chew him out for making Staraptor fly so far, so fast.

What Staraptor lacked in energy, the rest of Ash's team seemed to be bristling with fighting spirit. Garchomp ignored the bowl of food Misty set out for him and paced impatiently back and forth as he growled at Torterra. Torterra grunted in short replies to the younger Pokèmon as he gratefully munched on the seaweed Misty used to feed her Cloyster. Charizard (fresh from training) sipped on a bowl of Floatzel's favorite spicy soup while Sceptile leaned against the wall, politely refusing any refreshment offered. Though Misty couldn't understand them, she got a general aura of confusion as if they were asking each other "Why are we here?" This team was ready for war with no battlefield in sight.

"Looks like I almost missed dinner." Misty looked up to see Ash coming in from the hallway, drying his hair with a towel. Misty thought the shower did him good; at least he didn't look so road-worn in his sweats and tank top.

"Maybe Pikachu will share a ketchup-pickle as an appetizer." Misty said, stirring a pot of soup on the stove. "Tomato's still your favorite, right?"

"Thanks…but it's getting late we don't want to-" Ash looked around at his Pokèmon. "Hey…where's Staraptor?"

"Asleep." Misty said, ladling the soup into two bowls. "Where _you_ are going to leave him. You're not going anywhere tonight."

"Uh, actually Misty I-umph!" Ash started before Misty silenced him by cramming a dinner roll in his mouth.

"Not to stop what I'm _sure_ is a well thought out argument as to why it's a good idea to fly an exhausted Staraptor through a _thunder storm." _A bolt of lightning illuminated the darkening skies to make her point. "But you're out of your tiny little mind if you think I'm letting you outside in this weather. That'd be…irresponsible of me."

Ash swallowed a huge chunk of bread. "Irresponsible?"

Misty smirked. "Unlike _some _trainers I know, _I _am a Gym Leader and a _respectable_ and _upstanding_ member of this fine community. I have a _reputation_ to maintain" Misty handed Ash a bowl of soup. "I thought you would have known that by now."

Ash chuckled in spite of himself. "The Gym Leader part I knew; it's the _respectable_ and _upstanding_ parts that are news to m-AH!" Ash winced as Misty swatted him over the head with a handy newspaper.

"Oh, what do you know?" Misty huffed in fake indignation, leading Ash into the living room. "You have some apricorns showing up on my doorstep after a year training gods-know-where and lecturing me on propriety."

"Ah…sorry…" Ash said, staring into his soup with a strange expression.

"Oh come on; you know I'm kidding." Misty said, lightly nudging his shoulder. "It's just been a while since we've talked like this." Misty lightly sipped her soup, noting the way Ash's shoulders relaxed a little. "The last message I got from you was that birthday doll you sent me last month."

Misty was glad to see a smile, albeit a bit sheepish one. "Yeah…that was kind of a joke. I heard you like Mudkips so-" He trailed off, chuckling lightly.

"It was nice." Misty said, unconsciously thinking of the spot on her dresser the little Mudkip doll currently occupied. "I wanted to send you a thank you card but word had it that you were doing some secret training thing in the mountains so…" Misty trailed off as she noted the sudden downturn in Ash's mood at the mention of his training. Whatever was wrong, his preparations for the Sinnoh Cup were at the heart of it. Misty wanted to ask more but the tense, nervous way Ash sat perched on her couch made her afraid of scaring him into shutting up completely.

"So," Misty continued. "I sent a card to Dawn to pass along the next time she saw you." She relaxed a bit as Ash let out an almost inaudible breath he was holding.

_Play it cool, Misty._

"Speaking of Dawn…" Misty said, smiling a little. "You haven't heard, have you?"

Ash looked up, frowning curiously. "Heard what?"

Misty's smirk widened. Time to fish

* * *

To be a good Water Pokèmon trainer, you need to be a patient fisher. If there was one thing Misty's sisters taught her about fishing, it was that you couldn't be in a hurry. You had to pull it out, little by little until something bit. From there, it took a firm but subtle force to finally get the fish where you wanted it. Violet and Lily would always turn the analogy into something about flirting (with the help of a few well placed "if you know what I mean" followed by streams of giggles) but Misty found her sisters' advice useful in most of her daily life.

Be patient.

Go slowly.

Cut some slack and reel it in.

A good fisher was a good diplomat as long as they remembered to keep their cool.

Which was why Misty was "chumming the waters," as Daisy liked to put it, by completely switching topics to small talk ("How's the weather in Sinnoh?"), Trainer stuff ("_The Zen Trainer? _Yeah, I read it. Didn't think much of the author's thoughts on breeding though…") and gossip ("She's about three months pregnant already…and here I was thinking James was…well…"). For the most part it seemed to be working. Ash had loosened up quite a bit, laughing and joking along with her while his Pokèmon relaxed. By the time they had moved on to Dawn's love life, he seemed more like his old self again, dumbstruck expression and all.

"V-volkner?" Ash squeaked dryly.

"Volkner." Misty said, enjoying the baffled look on Ash's face.

"I-ah…what…._Volkner?!" _Ash repeated, his mouth agape comically.

"You're surprised?" Misty said. "They've been friends for the past couple years since she moved to Sunyshore but they've only been dating for a couple months now."

"Well yeah but…_Volkner?! _Really?!" Ash said, flabbergasted.

"Yeah, so? I happen to think they look cute together."

"_C-cute?!"_Ash stuttered._ "_He's…he's…he's like six years older than her!" Ash said.

"Four." Misty corrected. "He's a month younger than Brock."

"Whatever!" Ash said, standing up agitatedly. "Like _that_ makes it any better! The idea of Dawn and Brock is just…yeesh…" He suppressed a shudder.

"I don't see what you're worried about." Misty said, glad that Ash was showing signs of something other than melancholy. "She's eighteen now and _more_ than mature enough to know who's a good match for her, right?"

"Well…yeah…" Ash said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I just never thought that _match_ be Mr. Misery-Guts _Volkner._"

"Dawn says he's much sweeter than he lets everyone else see." Misty said.

"I'll _bet_." Ash said, clenching his fist. "Next time I see him, I'll…"

"What, kick his ass?" Misty snorted in disbelief. "Because if you do, please let me know when and where so I can alert the paramedics."

"You don't think I can take him?" Ash said indignantly.

Misty rolled her eyes. "I think you can _try _to take him."

"I'll have you know that Pikachu wasn't the only one training in the mountains." Ash said, folding his bare arms across his chest. "You saw me take out those Galactic Grunts! I'm awesome at fighting! I'm like a fight…master! I can take out any Gym Leader all by myself."

"Mmm-hmm…" Misty said, humoring him.

Ash raised an eyebrow. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"Oh of course I do _pumpkin_!" Misty said in a fake sugary tone. "You can beat up _anyone_ you want to if you just believe in yourself!"

Ash's frown suddenly turned into an evil smirk. "Really? Because I still think you need a little…_convincing!_" Without warning Ash launched himself across the couch and tried to tackle Misty who chose that moment to stand up so that he smacked his head against the armrest. Before he could recover, she sat back down on his back, pinning him to the couch.

"Gah! Hey…get off Misty!" Ash grunted, trying to wiggle his way out.

"And deprive Fightmaster Ash the chance to defeat a Gym Leader all by himself?" Misty said, leaning back against the couch.

"No fair!" Ash whined, childishly. "You're too h-ow!"

Misty dropped her elbow between his shoulder blades. "If still you value your life, you _won't…finish_…_that…sentence_!"

"Heartwarming! You're too heartwarming!" Ash half-groaned while trying not to laugh. "Now get off me!"

"Tough luck" Misty said. "You are not yet ready to defeat Volkner, young Kricketot. You may have spent time pushing rocks around up in the mountains, but I've been swimming every day of my life since I was-HEY!" Misty yelped as Ash flipped over and grabbed her around the middle. "ASH!"

"Ash uses Crush Grip!" Ash said in a perfect imitation of a well known battle commentator. "It's super-effective!"

"Let…go!" She laughed, pounding on his chest with her fists.

"Wild Misty uses Close Combat!" Ash said, hanging on while twisting away from her attacks. "Oh, but it's not very effective…"

"Argh!" Misty groaned. "Ash!"

"Wild Misty uses Frustration!" Ash said. "But it failed!"

"How old are you?! You're acting like a kid!" Misty said.

"Wild Misty uses-omph!"

"Wild Misty uses Crabhammer!" Misty said, jamming her elbow into Ash's ribs

"Ash uses a Pokèball!" Ash said, chuckling. Gotcha! Wild Misty was caught!"

"Stupid…" Misty mumbled childishly. Somehow she got flipped around so that she was pressed against his neck. She was now very aware that he used her bodywash in the shower but didn't feel like teasing him about it now. She felt his throat shake against the tip of her nose as his laughter subsided until they were just laying the couch. Somewhere deep within her, fourteen year old Misty was swooning like a smitten Southern belle.

"You're right…that was so stupid…" Ash sighed, catching his breath.

"Yeah…stupid." Misty chuckled nervously as her stomach tightened and her cheeks flushed in a way that had nothing to do with concern. His arms slackened around her waist a little bit and for a few seconds the only sounds were the rain in the background and the last crunches and munches of Ash's Pokèmon eating.

"Hey…Misty…um…" Ash said. Misty instinctively tensed up. Here it was

"Ash…whatever it is, I'll listen." She said gently.

"I don't really know how to say this…tactfully…." Ash said somewhat uncertainly.

Misty tentatively rested her head against his chest. "Look…you know you can tell me anything right?"

"Well…yeah but-"

"Just say it. What's wrong, Ash?"

"Um…you're kinda lying on my arm." Ash said, shifting his shoulder uncomfortably. "I wouldn't have said anything but I'm starting to lose feeling in my…um…Misty?" Misty's eyebrow twitched irritably. "Actually you can just keep laying there if you want to…"

Misty groaned as she pushed away and rolled off the couch. "Attention everyone!" She announced to Ash's Pokèmon. "Bedtime! Everybody follow Azumarill to your designated sleeping areas!"

Torterra and Sceptile looked at each other for a second, wondering if they should listen to this strange female who their master brought them to. But they quickly obeyed as Charizard and Pikachu followed Azumarill towards the door.

"Well…I guess that means we're staying the night…" Ash shrugged as Garchomp shot him a questioning look. "Best do what says; there's no arguing with her." Garchomp let out a growl of discontent but meekly followed Azumarill.

"I'm going to get them settled in," Misty said. "Get some pillows and blankets from the hall and I'll be back to set you up."

* * *

It took Misty longer than she thought to place Ash's team. Staraptor was easy since he could just roost with the other birds but the rest of the team was somewhat more finicky. After some wheedling, Misty convinced Torterra and Sceptile to room in the swamp exhibit with the Mudkips and Gastrodon. Charizard and Garchomp flat out refused to be kept in any room with a large pool for obvious fears of drowning. Charizard was happy in the steam room as long as his tail hung over the edge of the scalding spa so Misty left him there with a Slowbro to make sure he didn't drown. Garchomp proved to be more stubborn still, needing outright threats from Pikachu to even begrudgingly accept the Starmie exhibit (where he backed up far against the wall and eyed the sleeping Pokèmon with suspicion). Finally, Misty bunked Pikachu in with Azumarill and the Buizel family.

"Don't stay up too late now." Misty said to Azumarill as she settled Pikachu in a mini Shellder shaped bed. "There you go Pikachu…"

"_Ka…" _Pikachu purred happily, nuzzling Misty's hand.

"You must be tired; flying all the way from Sinnoh…".

Pikachu looked up sharply like she had just found out some terrible secret He shuffled guiltily like he was hiding something. "_Chu…" _

"Don't worry; I know about the tournament…" She said soothingly. "What happened? Why did he…"

Pikachu looked sadly up at Misty. "_Pikipi pika. Pipi Pikachu. Pi Pi Pi PikaPi…chu…" _

"Okay..." Misty said, wondering how Ash understood what he was saying. "I'll talk to him…" Pikachu nodded fiercely, shooting her a wordless, pleading look. "Don't worry about him. Ash is…rubbery, I guess." Misty said, unable to think of a better way to put it. "He bounces back twice as hard and twice as fast. No need to worry…" Misty said, wondering which one of them she was trying to placate. "Everything will be fine."

After extracting empty promises that they would go straight to bed, Misty left them alone. (Of course as soon as she was out the door, they started chattering away again.) Her walk back across the silent gym gave her time to think about what to do next. Ash was being unusually evasive, to the point of outright denial. The fact that Misty was one of the three people in the world that could accurately divine Ash's mood (aside from his mother and Brock) did nothing to help him if he was intent on shutting her out behind a unpleasantly faked smile.

As she passed the Gyrados tank, she was struck by a nagging feeling that maybe she was being paranoid and this perceived "problem" she had so expertly diagnosed was born out of childish fantasies from her younger days. Was this just some distorted hurt/comfort fantasy she'd indulged in when she was younger? Was this just a product of her own loneliness clinging on to whatever she could? Maybe he just _didn't feel like competing._ Was it arrogant of her to assume that she was the only one that could "help" him?

Misty's train of self deprecating thoughts was interrupted by a soft buzzing in her pocket. She set her phone to silent for the inevitable streams of texts she would receive but kept it on vibrate for any calls. She checked the caller ID and decided she could keep Ash waiting for a few more minutes.

"He's here." Misty said, answering the phone and dispensing with pleasantries.

"_So I gathered from your text." _Brock replied, the sound of a busy conference hall in the background. "_I don't have much time to talk so give me the abridged series; what happened?_"

"I don't know; he's being evasive."

"_When has that stopped you in the past?_" Brock said. "_Why don't you just ask him outright?"_

"Yeah, that'd be tactful. Hey Ash! Want to tell me why you bailed on the biggest tournament of the year or do I have to guess?" Misty said, dryly. "Besides I…"

"_Mist, I'm picking up what I hope isn't uncertainty in that last sentence." _Brock said. "_What's wrong?" _

"Maybe…maybe I'm wrong." Misty said bluntly. "Maybe I'm just imagining all this; he seems happy enough and-"

Brock's sigh cut her off. "_Stop. Just stop for one second and answer me this…do you really believe you're wrong?"_

"I-"

"_Think about it; really think about it." _Brock said carefully. "_You and I have known him longer than anyone else except Gary and we both know no one knows him better. I wish I was there to get him to spill about this tournament thing; I really do. But I'm not and even if I was…" _

"I…what?" Misty mumbled.

"_Look, they're calling my name so I have to wrap this up but we both know that Ash didn't fly all the way over to your gym to paint nails and throw himself a pity party. Ash has never been the one to brood over his problems; he __**fixes **__them. If he came to you; from halfway across the world, mind you, he has a reason. He could have come to anyone of us, but he came to you" _

"I know that…" Misty mumbled. "I just-" In the background, someone called Brock's name.

"_Yeah, I'll be there in a second!" _Brock called back. "_Look, Misty…I trust you. You're on a short list of people I trust above everyone else when it comes to Ash. Now answer me this; how does he look?" _

Misty paused, thinking about the slump in his shoulders, the heavy sighs he took once and a while when he thought she wasn't paying attention and the empty smiles that the lost look in his eyes betrayed. "He…he's hurting, Brock. Something hurt him badly and he's still reeling. I just w-wish I knew what…"

"_Then you know what you have to do." _Brock said.

* * *

Misty returned to find Ash sitting on the couch, absentmindedly picking at a stitch in a blanket. He looked up when she came in and gave her a needless smile as if to assure her that everything was alright. She returned a smile of her own as if to show him how fake he looked.

_Okay…here we go. _Misty said to herself

"I'm not sure where you want me so-"

"Well, you're sitting on your bed for the night." Misty said, clearing the throw pillows off and sitting down on the other end of the couch.

"New couch, right?" Ash said, bouncing on the cousins experimentally

"Yep. After spending enough nights working out here, I decided to get a couch that was meant to be slept on." Misty said, leaning back until her feet left the floor.

"Late nights?" Ash asked.

"You have no idea…" Misty said, thinking of the paperwork stacking up in her den. "Long nights, daily challenges, afternoon training, managing food, water and utilities…"

"Guess being a Gym Leader isn't as glamorous as people make it out to be, huh?" Ash chuckled weakly.

"Why do you think Brock and I jumped at the chance to travel with you in the first place?" Misty said.

"I guess you have a point…besides your bike, I mean." Ash said.

_Bike…yeah, sure. _Misty thought to herself.

"Speaking of bike, don't you usually bring by a new unfortunate soul whose bike you've destroyed?" Misty said

"Oh, yeah…I guess that happens a lot." Ash said. "Well, Dawn was the last one that happened to…"

"So wrecking property is your criteria to meet people?" Misty said dryly. "Surely you must've met some new friends you haven't introduced me to."

"Um…well…truth be told, me and Pikachu have been doing some solo training with the team in the mountains." Ash said, fidgeting a little

"So no hiker buddies then?" Misty asked. "You didn't meet anyone new?"

"No…" Ash said flatly. "No one memorable anyway."

"Mmmhmm…" Misty said. She checked the clock on the wall; 11:30 already? She would have to get going before it got too late or they would be up all night. Running with a sudden hunch, Misty reached for the remote. "Looks like the news is on; you mind?" Ash shrugged indifferently so Misty went ahead and turned the TV on.

_Click _

"_-it's just a real shame, ya know?"_ A stubby little trainer said into the camera. Misty felt a surge of anticipation as her gambit paid off. Sure enough, the sports report was on.

"Oh, looks like a trainer ran out on the Sinnoh Cup." Misty said, casually to Ash who had gone white as a sheet.

"_And that was the word on the ground." _The perky reporter from before said, now worn from standing in the field. "_Elite Four Volkner declined to comment on the situation beyond saying that he isn't worried and is sure that Ash Ketchum is just fine. Reporting live from Victory Road, this is Leann Jenkins." _

_Click _

"Huh…" Misty said mildly, ignoring her petrified friend in the corner. "You never told me you were entering the Sinnoh Cup."

"Oh drop the act." Ash said irritably. "You knew about this, didn't you?"

Miffed, Misty bit back a venomous remark. "Yeah, I knew. I heard from your mom that you were entering the tournament and I heard from Leann _goddamned_ Jenkins that my best friend had vanished without a trace." Misty ignored the huff of irritation from Ash's end and decided to go for blunt. "So Ash, do you want to tell me why you bailed on the biggest tournament of the year or do I have to guess?"

"Nothing to guess." Ash said flatly. "I didn't show up; they disqualified me. End of story."

"That I also got from Miss Jenkins who is turning out to be a more reliable source of information than _you _right now." Misty said.

"Cut me some slack!" Ash said defensively. "Did you ever think that maybe I just didn't want to compete this year?"

"Didn't want to compete?" Misty echoed. "Ash, that was Brendon's idiot idea and-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Ash said, standing up suddenly. "How does Brendon know about this?!"

"I called him."

"_You _told him?!"

"I called looking for you!" Misty said fiercely. "I called _everyone_!"

"So _everyone _knows now?" Ash groaned. "What did you tell them?"

"I told them what I knew, which was apparently nothing!" Misty said. "I called them because I was worried that you were dead on the side of the road!"

"I can take care of myself." Ash said bitterly. "I thought you would know that by now

"How the hell would I know that?" Misty spat back. "You didn't call, you didn't write…I didn't know what was happening until you showed up! I was scared!"

"Sorry _mom _I didn't know it was past my bedtime." Ash said.

"Ash…what's wrong?" Misty asked. "You've never done anything like this before."

"Things change." Ash said darkly. "Whatever you're thinking, there's nothing wrong."

"Ash-"

Ash laughed humorlessly. "You know, I would have never come here if I had known you'd be such…"

"I'd be _what?_" Misty said softly.

"Nothing." Ash said.

"What?!" Misty demanded

"Nothing!" Ahs insisted

"If you've got something to say, Ash Ketchum, just _say it!_"

"Such…such a nag!" Ash said. "Why can't you just accept that I made this decision myself? You think there's something horribly wrong with me because I left a stupid _tournament?! _Get real! There's nothing for you to be concerned about so just _shut up!_"

_Boom…_

There was a flash of lightning, a crash of thunder and then…silence. For a few agonizing seconds, there was nothing but the sound of rain against the glass.

"Well pardon me for caring…" Misty said, averting her eyes. "I'm sorry I'm such bother to you."

Ash swallowed hard. "Misty, wait…I, I didn't mean to-"

"Don't worry about it, Ash." Misty said coldly willing her voice not to tremble. "I should know by now that you can take care of yourself…"

"Misty…God, Misty I'm sorry…" Ash said, reaching out for her as she jerked away.

"There's nothing to be sorry for." Misty said, angrily running her hand over the back of her eyes. "I'm j-just being a prying nag for wondering if you're alright or not. Clearly you don't need me worrying about you."

"Misty…" Ash choked out. "Please…wait…"

"I'm going to bed." Misty said, turning for the hallway. "If it's what you want, then I'll just leave you alone…"

"DON'T!" Misty froze as he called out louder than was needed. Misty turned around to see him slumped over on the couch, head buried in his hands. "Don't…leave me alone."

"Ash…what makes you think you can lie to me?" Misty said, calmly steadying her breath. "What make you think you're even capable of deceiving me anymore? I've been your friend for the past ten years now and _believe me _when I say I know when something's wrong."

"I know…" Ash said into his hands. "I…I couldn't hide this Cup thing from you, could I?" He said meekly

"I could give a damn about the stupid Sinnoh Cup." Misty said. "That's not why I'm worried about you. When I saw you just a few hours ago I could tell that there was something wrong. Whatever…passion you had it's like it's _gone _now." Ash looked up at her, only confirming her suspicions. Misty tentatively moved to sit on the couch beside him. "Whatever it is, you know I'll do what I can to help."

"I don't know if it can be helped…" Ash said softly.

Misty tentatively put a hand on his shoulder. "You don't know that unless you tell me…" Ash looked sidelong at her for a long second, drawing reassurance from her touch. Whatever she could imagine, Misty could think of something to say. There was nothing that he could be going through that would be beyond their efforts to put it right again. Finally Ash took a deep, shuddering breath.

"It's my dad…I…I met my dad…"

And to Misty's shock, she couldn't think of anything to say.

* * *

_AN: (Insert Dramatic Chord Here) _

_So this was part 2 of 3 and Ash meets his father. The next chapter is going to be the longest since Ash is going to be doing a lot of flashing back to his time with his dad (Spoiler alert! It didn't go well…). I'm aiming for drama while dodging angst so it's going to be tough to get through this next chapter without falling into wangstiness (Don't worry, this story does have a happy ending) _

_Feedback is always appreciated and genuinely motivates me to do my best with each chapter. So please leave a review letting me know what you think and I'll have this chapter up as soon as I can...probably meaning after I beat Morty in HeartGold _

_... _

_..._

_Ahem...  
_

_--DOTMW_


	3. Sorting The Pieces

_**The Sound of Falling Rain**_

_**III **_

"_The day the child realizes that all adults are imperfect, he becomes an adolescent;_

_Alden Nowlan

* * *

_

There were four topics generally never discussed at Ash's house. The first was league politics, which was just generally good manners with all the new people Ash brought around (politics is a stupid topic anyway).The second was Delia Ketchum's true age. As long as Misty knew her, Delia never let on how old she really was (even her birthday cakes had vague amounts of candles on them). The third was May's Chillian Chocolate Cherri Poffin Surprise but that's another story altogether (suffice to say, it was a disaster involving three heads of kim-chee, ten pounds of barbeque charcoal and TM22; an event that got her banned from her friends' kitchens, the National Park and any Kanto Contests judged by the Celedon City Joy).

The fourth was Ash's father.

There were pictures early on his mantelpiece of a dark haired stranger holding a baby Ash but as the baby grew up he and his mother were the only family in the frames. In fact, there was a chronological dropoff halfway across the hearth where the red eyed young man simply vanished sometime after Ash's first steps and before his first day at school. When he was mentioned, he was mentioned in passing and only as "your father" with relation to Ash and never named. Misty found his name on the back of a picture but never brought it up. Ash himself never talked about his father and there never was a good time to bring it up until now.

The words left his lips and suddenly there was a pregnant silence in the little apartment. The distant din of rain and wind raged tirelessly outside but for the umpteenth time that night, Misty found herself at a loss for words. Out of a desire to say _anything_ to break the uncomfortable silence, she let out a single "Oh…"

Ash let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah…that's a good way of putting it…"

"Well…I mean…wow, so what-"

"It's a long story." Ash sighed. "Not exactly a cheerful one either."

"I take it things didn't end well between you two." Misty said.

"Oh no; things went just peachy, Mist." Ash said. "That's _exactly_ why I'm here instead of mopping the floor with Cynthia's Garchomp."

"Okay, first of all, I can live without the sarcasm." Misty said.

"Sorry…"

"Secondly, in what universe are you capable of denting that unholy _beast _she calls a Pokèmon?"

"The one where all my hopes and dreams come true?" Ash chuckled weakly.

"Thirdly, explain." Misty demanded. "Just…start talking."

"Look, Misty I appreciate you asking but I didn't want to come all the way up here just to dump my problems on you." Ash said

"Yeah, well you're here now and I'm not letting you get away without explaining what happened." Misty said, getting up to refill their cups.

"I really don't think we're going to have time tonight." Ash said, glancing at the clock. "It's almost ten."

"Ash, I'm twenty one years old and in charge of a city of Pokèmon. I haven't gone to bed before twelve since I was thirteen." Misty said, pouring some more tea. "Start at the beginning; you were training in Sinnoh and…"

"There's not much to say…I don't really know where to-"

"Right, right, right." Misty said, coming back to the couch and handing him the mug. "Long story, not much to say, you don't know where to start. Just…start with your dad. How did it go?" Misty asked.

"Let's see…considering that I barely remember him and the last I saw of him was his back as he walked out the front door when I was five…yeah, it went about as well as I thought it would." Ash sighed.

"You were only five when you saw him last?" Misty said, scooting a little closer to him. "It's no wonder you don't remember him."

"Well, I don't remember much. Just dark hair…low voice…yellow, fluffy wool…"

"Fluffy wool?" Misty asked.

"His Mareep." Ash said dryly. "In fact, the only thing I remember _missing_ was Mareep. She was a cute little thing, all fluffy with her notched little ear. She would always snuggle up next to me before bedtime and…well, he left me behind a little Mareep plushie…" Ash trailed off sheepishly.

"I know what you mean." Misty said. It probably wasn't easy for him to admit this to her so she wanted to save him as much embarrassment as possible. "You must have missed him."

"Missed _him_?" Ash laughed roughly. "I missed my pillow more than I missed him."

"Harsh." Misty said, a little surprised at Ash's callous tone. "You must have missed him a little, right?"

Ash shrugged. "Not really. Mom told me he left to become a better Pokèmon trainer and that he'd be back when he was done. The way I saw it, I thought he was just going to be gone for a little while."

"But he didn't come back, did he?" Misty guessed.

Ash shook his head. "No…but I mean, I was just a kid. After a few years, I started to think there was something wrong; that maybe he wasn't coming home because he got lost or hurt or something. So naturally, I'd have to become a great trainer so I could find him and bring him back home."

Misty smiled in spite of herself, imagining little eight year old Ash brushing up on his adventuring skills so he could find his daddy. "Cute."

"My mom sure thought so." Ash said. "I don't know if she ever believed he was coming back or if she just told me that he was to keep my spirits up. But she was always cheerful; always saying how I was doing great and I'd be a great trainer when I was old enough like…like my father…and that he'd be proud of me when he…came back. It wasn't always easy; mom was away a lot more teaching and stuff. But we got by and I grew up trying to fill my father's shoes."

"So you wanted to become a Pokèmon trainer to impress your father." Misty said. "I always kind of guessed that."

Ash chewed on his lip nervously. "Yeah…almost."

"Almost?" Misty asked.

"Yeah…well…" Ash stood up suddenly, letting out a deep sigh and rubbing the back of his head nervously.

Misty felt like she was putting him on the spot so she quickly backpedaled. "Look, Ash if you don't want to tell me-"

"No…it's all right." Ash said, glancing at her over his shoulder. "You asked, right?"

Misty nodded uneasily. "Yeah…but if you don't feel like it I don't want to-"

"You asked…" Ash repeated. "I mean that I wanted to become a Pokèmon 'master' for my dad's sake until I was about nine and Gary tore the head off my Mareep."

"I really hope there's a story behind this." Misty said uncertainly. "And I really hope you're talking about your plushie."

"It's a long story…" Ash said, smiling a little sadly. "Let's just say that our idea of "playing" involved kidnapping each other's toys and holding them ransom…" Misty tried not to laugh at the image of Gary and Ash negotiating for the release of their hostage toys. "Anyway, there was this one time when we were both nine that things got a little intense."

"Intense?" Misty winced.

"Yeah, we both overreacted a little. Playful jabs became petty insults and it ended when I smashed his Totodile clock against a rock and he tore the head off my Mareep plushie."

"Okay, that's _definitely_ a low blow." Misty said, a little surprised.

"I don't blame him. I mean we were just kids; little sociopaths, you know?" Ash shrugged it off. "Besides, as far as he was concerned it was just a toy."

"Still, that's more than a bit vindictive." Misty said.

"Meh, don't worry about it; I kicked him in the shins and he dropped like an old woman." Ash shrugged nonchalantly. "Anyway, after that…_mess_…I started walking home. Mom was giving a talk at the school in Viridian City so I ended up just wandering into the woods behind my house. You remember the little grove I took you to a couple of years ago? Anyway, I used to go back there a lot; sit on that little stump to clear my head."

"When you were upset." Misty summarized.

"Yeah…except that time I wasn't; upset that is." Ash bit his lip. "I think that's the first time I can remember being really…angry. Not just little kid pouting I mean…genuinely angry. Angry at…at Gary for being such a butthead…but at the same time I felt angry at my dad for not being there for me." Ash chuckled dryly. "That sounds petulant and childish when I say it now but…is it? Is it wrong to be angry at him for leaving me behind for his own dreams?"

"Well, yeah!" Misty said earnestly. "Nobody has the right to abandon the ones they care about! Not for anything as stupid as Pokèmon training anyway." But whatever reassuring effect Misty's words were meant to have backfired as Ash nodded blankly.

"You're right…people shouldn't abandon the ones they care about…" Ash muttered. "That's what I thought. I can remember fidgeting with the head of my little stuffed animal just…stewing in eight years of sour grapes. Eight years of missed birthdays, long walks home from school and more than enough stress on my mom. It wasn't fair; that's what I kept telling myself. None of it was, you know what I mean?"

"Yeah…" Misty murmured more to herself. "I know what you mean. You thought it was unfair…like, how could th-he just up and leave you alone like that."

Ash stared at Misty for a long second before saying. "Yeah…that's exactly what I mean…all of that was just churning around like an overloaded washing machine until I…I…"

"Over-sudsed?" Misty said, half jokingly.

Ash laughed softly. "Yeah…just bubbled all that anger and sadness onto the first thing I could think of; dad." Ash paused there for a moment. "After that, I was done checking the TV for his battles that never aired or sitting on the porch for him not to show up. What was the point, you know? So I got up off my stump, went home and tossed his toy in the trash. I was done waiting for him to come home and I sure as hell wasn't going to go looking for him anytime soon. After that, I didn't care if he was impressed or proud of me; if he was, he wouldn't have earned it. I was going to succeed in a way that he never did. I was going to beat that old man to the Indigo Plateau and when he finally dragged his sorry ass through Victory Road, I'd be there to greet him."

"To beat him." Misty said

Ash nodded, clenching his hands. "I'd be there to show him that I grew up just fine without him. That I got through school, without him. That I learned to ride a bike and camp and fish and train _without him_. I wanted to show him that I had fifteen Christmases, fifteen _birthdays _without so much as a phone call or goddamn _card _from him and still…I had done without him what he couldn't do alone."

Misty suppressed a shudder. This was a side of Ash she had never seen before. "You never mentioned this before."

"It wasn't a big deal." Ash said. "It's not like I spent every waking moment seething and brooding over "revenge" or anything stupid like that. I just went on with my life. I started travelling once I turned ten and I didn't pay him any mind. Oh…I checked the Gym badge record to see if he had been through but…other than that it didn't bother me."

"_This _is no big deal?" Misty said, raising an eyebrow

"It _wasn't _a big deal." Ash said. "At least I thought it wasn't a big deal until…"

"You met him." Misty said. "But…I thought you said you didn't know him that well?"

"Yeah…"

"So how did you know it was him?" Misty asked. "Did you guys just swap personal histories around the campfire or-"

"Actually, it was something like that, yeah." Ash said. "I was travelling through Victory Road; it's the big mountain on the Pokèmon League Island. Anyway, it was the middle of the night and-"

"Wait, so this was last night?" Misty interrupted.

Ash laughed shortly. "No, this was about a week ago. So like I was saying, we were wandering through the caves…"

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8**8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8**8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8**8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

_One Week Earlier. _

*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*

"_PiPikachu…_"

"Lost?" Ash said, ducking underneath a stalactite. "Really? Gee, what gave you that-OW!" Ash yelped as Pikachu sparked his leg irritably. "Sorry, sorry…"

Ash turned bend, carefully taking note of the nest of Graveler deeper in the cave. The last thing he needed was to excite the Explosion prone Pokèmon this late at night.

"It's times like these I wish I had taken Dawn's map." Ash muttered, coming to a small cave ledge that overlooked the main chamber below. "I guess we're not getting out anytime tonight; might as well make camp."

"_Chu…_" Pikachu sighed, hopping off Ash's shoulder as he unslung his pack.

"Okay, everybody out!" Ash called, running his fingers along the buttons of the Pokèballs on his waist. Out sprung six cranky, stir-crazy Pokèmon who, after noticing that this was _not _a Pokèmon Center, turned to glare at their trainer.

"I know, I know, I said I'd get out today but I promise, we'll be outside tomorrow!" Ash promised, setting up his sleeping bag against the rock face. "In the meantime, let's all just circle up. The last thing we need are Onix coming around for a midnight snack." There were grunts and groans of dismay but they all took their positions. Charizard lay down in the center to use his tail as light for the others. Torterra, Garchomp and Sceptile formed a small triangle around him with the cave wall acting as the base. Staraptor stretched his wings and perched in Torterra's tree.

"Nothing else to do but go to sleep." Ash said, homing in on the soft hum of the waterfall. "Night everyone…" Ash rolled over and let the rumbling falls lull him to sleep.

Sometime later, Ash was suddenly and violently awakened by a large crash that echoed throughout the chamber. There was a soft rumbling sound but, peering over the edge, Ash couldn't see where it was coming from. The sound grew closer and closer as the rumbling became more and more violent.

It was at that moment, both Garchomp and Torterra shot a panicked look at the wall behind Ash. Something in the way they were edging away from the wall and towards the embankment leading down into the basin below made Ash uneasy.

"Okay…everyone just stay calm…" Ash said, following them towards the ledge as the rumbling and quaking became more and more violent.

Without warning, Garchomp and Torterra both dove off the embankment which prompted Ash to grab Pikachu and command "Fly!" In one practiced motion, Staraptor grabbed Sceptile and soared after Torterra and Garchomp. Ash grabbed a hold of Charizard's legs in time to be hoisted up off the ground as gave away.

"AHHHHHHHHH!"

With a deafening crash, two Onix burst out of the wall, flanking one Steelix who was trying to shake something off of its nose. That something (what Ash could now recognize as a man) was clinging to the creature's face while trying to reach the Pokèballs on his belt.

"What the…" Ash looked down to see his team looking up at him expectantly. "Garchomp; target the Onix on the right! Use Dragon Pulse! Torterra; Frenzy Plant the one on the left!" Ash shifted forward on Charizard's neck. "Hey you on the Steelix! Get away; I'm going to fight them off!"

"AHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Yeah, yeah…we got that much." Ash mumbled. "Okay Charizard, as soon as that idiot is clear I want you to hit Steelx with a Flamethrower." Ash glanced to either side to see the Onix fleeing Garchomp and Sceptile. "Alright Charizard…now!" The man rolled off Steelix's nose and before it could turn on him Charizard belched a stream of flame directly at its forehead. Steelix roared in pain but quickly slunk back into the tunnel with only a few mutinous cries of anger.

"Wait!" The man on the ground cried out, running after the Steelix. "Come back!" He groaned in frustration as Ash touched down on the ground beside him. "Nice going!" He growled at Ash. "I would have caught that thing if you hadn't-"

"_Rrrrrrrgh…" _Charizard growled menacingly as he snaked his head between Ash and the man.

"Okay, firstly a little gratitude would be nice." Ash said.

"Why should I-"

"_RRRRRRGH…" _

"Ah…right." The man said. "Thank you for your…_support _but I promise you that I had everything under control." He straightened his shirt in the faint light

"Under control? _He_ was catching _you_! If you hadn't destroyed my camp he would have folded you up in a pizza and eaten you!" Ash said, dusting off his battered pack and sleeping bag and returning his Pokèmon to their balls. "And who goes picking fights with Steelix with no Pokèmon at _two in the morning_?"

"_Pikachu!_" Pikachu agreed with a frown.

"I didn't want to wake my team; we've been lost in this stupid mountain for days now." The man said, nervously fidgeting with his Pokèballs. "Truth be told, I was hoping to follow one of Steelix's tunnels to find a way out but I stumbled on a nest. It's actually pretty rare that you Steelix away from natural iron deposits but if there's one here and it's leading a group of…HEY!" The man ran after Ash who started wandering off halfway through his speech. "Hold on a second! Wait!"

"Are you still following me?" Ash asked the man. "Don't you have Snorlax to sumo wrestle or Gyarados to irritate?"

"Well I was thinking it'd be safer if we travel together." The man said, jogging to keep up.

"Safer for you or me?" Ash said. "You have a habit of attracting trouble."

"Hear me out; my whole team is knocked out from the meds I had to give them. Right now, I'm a sitting Psyduck for whatever monster Pokèmon wants a piece. So here's my offer; you let me tag along until tomorrow and I can maybe help you with your Pikachu.

Ash reflexively hugged Pikachu tighter. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

The man stopped in the dim light and from the faint moonbeams filtering down through the cracks in the ceiling, Ash could make out a thin dark haired man in a suit and tie (strange for spelunking) only a few inches taller than him. "I'm somewhat of an electric aficionado myself." He said, bending down to tie his trainers. "And as soon as my Amphy wakes up from her nap, I reckon I could teach you a thing or two."

Ash warily glanced the man over. Something familiar about him nagged at the back of Ash's mind but he couldn't put his finger on it. "Like…"

"Look, you may not have a high opinion of my survival skills but I can tell you that I've been around the block more times than you can imagine." The man said. "How old are you; fifteen?"

"Twenty." Ash said flatly.

"Right, so that means while you were wiping applesauce off your overalls I was off challenging the Pokèmon League…which, if I guess correctly, is where you're going now."

"So? Everyone in Victory Road is heading for the Pokèmon League. Why else would you be here?"

The shadow of the man shrugged. "Fun. But that's beside the point, which is that I know what I'm talking about."

"Right…I think I'm going to pass." Ash said, turning away.

"Volt Tackle, Iron Tail, Quick Attack and Thunderbolt." Ash paused in mid step; turning to face the man who had his hands in his pockets with what Ash guessed was a smug look. "Based on the rest of your team, the show you put on against the Onix and the typical same type attack bonus you would get from a Pikachu that's about…ten years old _and _inferring from what I know about your battle style I can guess your moves; Volt Tackle, Iron Tail, Quick Attack and Thunderbolt. And I'll tell you what…you're not going to stand a chance against Cynthia."

"You know that because?" Ash said

"Look…it's getting late. If you don't want my help then say so now and I can be on my way. But…I think you have potential. You just need to know what you're getting yourself into. I can help you there." He paused, extending his hand. "So do we have a deal?"

He shared a brief glance with Pikachu before taking his hand "Okay."

"Great!" The man said, falling into stride next to him. "Name's Roy."

"Ash." Ash said.

"No, I think this is just dust." Roy said, running a finger along the dusty wall.

"No, that's my name." Ash said. "Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." He paused when he realized that Roy had stopped moving in the middle of the path. "You alright?"

"Pallet you say?" Roy said quietly.

"Yeah, born and raised." Ash said. "Why?"

"Nothing." Roy said quickly catching up. "I-It's just that's a long way from here is all."

"Yeah, well I travel around a lot." Ash said.

"On your own?"

"Well…more now than I'm used to…"

"Hm…your mother must worry about you." Roy said

"She trusts me to take care of myself." Ash said. "You from around here?"

"No…I'm from New Bark originally." Roy said.

"Hm." Ash mumbled and for the next half hour they travelled in silence until they found a better camping spot. Against Ash's insistence that his team of intimidating-as-hell Pokèmon would protect them, Roy stayed up as Ash unrolled what was left of his sleeping bag and went to sleep.

* * *

"When did you know?" Misty asked.

"Not then." Ash said. "Not for a while. It's dark as hell in there so the only time I got a good look at him was at noonish when the sun came down through the ceiling. Still, there wasn't anything that tipped me off until…"

* * *

"I don't mean to complain-" Roy started.

"Then why do I get the feeling you're about to?" Ash replied.

"But didn't we pass this rock formation earlier?" Roy said.

"There are literally _thousands _of rock formations that all look the same." Ash pointed out. "What makes you so sure we passed _this _one?"

"You left your granola wrapper behind." Roy said, picking it up off the cave floor. "This is probably not the best time to say this but the damage one wrapper can do to the ecosystem of a cave like this-"

"To hell with this cave!" Ash said, kicking a boulder. "I'm tired of walking in circles in the dark!"

"_Golem!_" The boulder said, waking up from its nap.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Ash bellowed, causing the Golem to inch away nervously.

"Looks like you need a break." Roy said, sitting down on a rock in the center of the tunnel.

"We can't stop now!" Ash said. "We've still got a lot of ground to cover."

"Unless we know where we're going, we're just going to keep traveling in circles." Roy said. "Let's stop here for a bit."

"Alright…but don't get too comfortable!" Ash said, unslinging his pack. "Your Pokèmon have had enough time to recover, right? So let's see what you got."

Roy sighed. "Can't we just take a five minute-"

"You know, I'm beginning to doubt that you have any Pokèmon at all." Ash said. "How do I know those aren't empty balls on your belt?"

"Who do you know that would…oh fine." Roy sighed, standing up. "I'll humor you."

"Alright, let's go old man!"

"_Pika!" _

"What ever happened to respecting your elders…" Roy mumbled.

"I respect my betters so put up or shut up!" Ash said

"Alright…if you insist." Roy selected a ball on his waist. "Then I'll start off with Feraligatr!"

The tunnel shook for over an hour with the force of their battle. Feraligatr went down to Sceptile who was defeated by Blaziken who suffered at the hands of Garchomp who was defeated by Dragonite who lost to Charizard who was tackled by Sandslash who was leafed by Torterra who lost to Mamoswine who was Iron Tailed by Pikachu.

"Not bad at all…" Roy said, recalling the dizzy Mamoswine. "You're better than you look."

"I must look pretty good then." Ash said. "Alright, let's see you're last Pokèmon Mr. Electric Aficionado."

"Alright, but she's a toughie!" Roy warned, reaching for the single unadorned Pokèball on his waist. "Go Ampharos!"

The Pokèball bounced lightly on the ground and out popped an Ampharos with a cry of "_Ampha-"_ The Pokèmon's cry died in her throat as she took one look at Ash and stopped to stare at him, mouth agape.

"Hey, wh-what's wrong little…" Ash's trailed off as his eyes wandered up to the notch in her right ear, still there though two evolutions. "No…"

"Oh hell…" Roy mumbled.

"No…" Ash repeated pointing to Ampharos and Roy.

"Look…I know what this must look like but…"

"Oh no…" Ash said looking back and forth a few times in quick succession before locking eyes with Roy.

"Come on…let's not do anything too-"

"Oh…HELL NO!" Ash said, dodging Ampharos and launching himself at Roy and slamming him against the rock wall.

* * *

_AN: I haven't got much time; I pray the record of this fanfic survives. A month ago, I started writing a fanfic based on a wave of nostalgia for the original Pokèmon anime. There was sufficient material to create a oneshot but the Plot Bunnies who supported the project insisted on a longer oneshot; more verbose than any existing oneshot! Finally my expiriments proved successful; I produced a working fanfic. I called it, The Sound of Falling Rain. But the fic's length is out of control! With it's verbose gnawing is destroying my productive capabilities. I dreamed of creating the world's longest oneshot…and I succeeded. _

…

…

_Right, so here's the next bit. I'm wondering how long this fic is going to be…I should probably work on my Lucky Star fic...I broke this last chapter up into two parts since it was four thousand words and counting. So thanks for hanging with me and I'll post the next one once I'm done. _

_R&R. It will please me…_

_DOTMW_


	4. Putting the Pieces Together

_**The Sound of Falling Rain**_

_**IV**_

…_the day he forgives them, he becomes an adult…  
Alden Nowlan _

"You tackled him…" Misty said flatly.

"Well what would _you _do if you suddenly found out the guy you were travelling with was your father that you hadn't seen since you were five?" Ash said.

"You _tackled _him?" Misty repeated, massaging the bridge of her nose. "Ooh…boy."

"So I got a little hotheaded!" Ash said, suddenly embarrassed

"A _little_?" Misty said. "You tackled _him!_"

"Oh are you really that surprised?" Ash said. "Can you really blame me?"

"Well…I guess not…but did you have to tackle him?"

"Fine! I lost my temper. Boo me." Ash threw his hands up. "Do you want me to finish or is this going to bug you all night?"

"Yeah yeah, go ahead…"

* * *

"Ash, wait a minute…"

Ash wasn't listening. Without thinking, he slung his pack on his shoulder and started walking away as fast as he could without running. He was vaguely aware of Pikachu tugging at his shirt and saying something unintelligible but he wasn't paying anything except the tunnel ahead any mind.

"Ash! Ooh…damnit, my ribs….Ash, just hold on for a second…"

Ash ignored the labored footsteps following him. _Just keep on walking_, he told himself. He could sort all of this…_this _out in a minute. If he stopped now, he reasoned, he'd have to turn around and talk to the man behind him. And right now, Ash wasn't sure he could do that without tackling him again.

"Ash!"

"Stop following me." Ash called back without turning around. "If you found your way in, you can find your way out again. Just…just leave."

"That's not it-" Roy said

"You know, _Roy, _right now I really don't care what _it _is." Ash said. "Right now, I just want to get out of this cave and as far away from _you _as I can."

"Now come on…don't walk out on me before-"

"Oh!" Ash cried, stopping in his tracks and causing Pikachu to slip off his shoulder. "Oh irony of ironies! Sweet, sweet hypocrisy thy name is Roy. You hear that, Pikachu? _He_ doesn't want _me_ to walk out on _him_. Gee whiz, what d'you think we should do, hmmm?"

"_Pikapi…Pikachu…" _Pikachu said, a little worried at Ash's sudden mood shift.

"You make a gooood point." Ash said. "But on the other hand…" Without finishing, he turned around and started walking faster

"At least let me explain!" Roy shouted back.

"Explain?" Ash turned around to face Roy and Ampharos, twenty feet behind him. "What…what…what could you _possibly _have to explain to me?"

"Look…I know you're angry at me." Roy said.

"Oh yeah; understatement of the year. Why don't you tell me that Gyarados tends to be a little_ irritable _or that Snorlax is _kinda big_."

"I know I haven't…well, I haven't been a great f-father."

"_Great? _I would have settled for _good. _ Hell, I would have settled for _present." _Ash said. "Oh, while we're on the topic, when were you planning on telling me? Were you just hoping we'd make it through Victory Road without it ever coming up?"

"I was going to say something but…"

"But _what?"_ Ash demanded.

Roy nervously scratched the back of his head. "I mean…I didn't know what to say…I never thought something like this would happen."

"Small world, huh?" Ash said. "Let's just make this easy; don't say anything. Just…go."

"Whatever you may think about me, I'm not the kind of man who leaves his debts unpaid!" Roy said

"You don't owe me anything." Ash said. "Look at me; grew up fine without you! Thanks to _Mom,_ I never grew up wanting _anything_. I grew up and got all the way to Victory Road in _Sinnoh _without your help!"

"And without my help, this is as far as you'll get!" Roy said. His words echoed around the cavern and until they stopped they were both silent, glaring at each other. Beside them, Ampharos and Pikachu cast worried glances at each other and their trainers. Finally, Roy spoke again

"Look, I know you grew up fine and all that. Hell, you may be better off for me being gone…but the fact remains; you saved our lives yesterday. Mine and Ampharos and the rest of my team."

"Thought you said you had it…" Ash muttered.

"Even so, if someone helps me I think it's only right I help them out in return." Roy said. "Now I've seen what you're capable of. You took down an angry Steelix and her brood in under a minute with three different Pokèmon coordinated at the same time. That's no cheap dimestore trick; that takes a sharp mind to pull off. And honestly, you're going to totally wipe the Elite Four."

Ash shifted uncomfortably, not expecting this total vote of confidence. "What…why do you say that?"

"Well…let's see…you'll beat Aaron easily of course. He's the only man over thirty that I know uses Bug type and your Charizard can deal with them…Flint and that new Electric trainer should go down to Garchomp and Torterra…Lucian may be a bit tricky but I think you can just overpower him with physical moves."

"I could have told you that." Ash said, somewhat childishly. "So if I can beat the Elite Four, why do I need _your _help?"

Roy took a deep breath, locking eyes with his son. "Because even if you defeat the Elite Four, you're still not going to beat Cynthia."

"Why the hell not? I've met Cynthia before. She's just another elite trainer; may as well be the Elite Five as far as I'm con-"

Roy interrupted Ash with a sharp laugh that brought a flash of recognition. "You really don't get it, do you? Cynthia isn't just your run of the mill trainer; she's in a league all her own. You say you've met Cynthia, but have you ever fought her?" Ash shook his head. "Exactly. You have no idea what her Pokèmon are capable of. Her _Garchomp _can wipe your entire team by itself and still have enough energy to burn."

"You know a lot about Cynthia…you fought her before, haven't you?" Ash said.

Roy nodded slowly. "I fought her a lot. There was a time when I was young before I met your mother that I travelled with friends from around the world. Everywhere I went, I'd always pick up new travelling companions and when I came to Sinnoh, I fell in with a new Pokèmon trainer named Cynthia."

"You travelled with Cynthia?" Ash said, fighting to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Yeah…me and Norman chased off a flock of Spearow that were trying to pick off her Riolu. Long story short, she ended up following us and we watched her grow into the dervish she is today." Roy smiled a lopsided smile. "Norman always said she'd get far. Always had an eye for talent, that man."

"Good eye." Ash said, trying to remember where that name sounded familiar. "So if she's this unbeatable behemoth-"

"I never said she was unbeatable. She's damn good but she's mortal and she _can _be stopped." Roy said. "Of course, if you don't know _how_…"

"You want me to cheat?" Ash said, accusingly.

"You won't be cheating. All I'm going to do is point out what anyone with experience can see. You've got talent but you don't have my experience." Roy shifted uncomfortably. "I know…you probably hate me. I can't say I really blame you. But if you want to beat the league…you're going to need my help. I…I know I left you before but now, I feel like I need to help you with this. Please…Ash let me help you." He extended a hand. "What do you say?"

Ash groaned, rubbing his eyes. Part of him wanted tell Roy to get bent and storm off. On the other hand he had, on several occasions, seen Cynthia's Pokèmon plowing through a swath of Galactic grunts without so much as batting an eyelash. Still, he was _so close _to his adolescent goal of becoming League Champion without his father's aid. On the other hand…seeing his father here of all places and now of all times peaked his curiosity. It certainly wouldn't be the first time the universe had come together in a series of contrived events that _somehow _always centered on him. And as much as he was completely furious at Roy, he couldn't bring himself to hate the man. When he was younger, he it would be easy to despise his deadbeat dad but now that he was here, he couldn't muster up the energy for hate. Part of it was just total shock but something told him that this may be the last time he saw his father. The man was an enigma and would he regret passing up the opportunity to get to know him? Did he even want that? Dammit, this was confusing!

Ash looked down at Pikachu for help who offered a shrug in return as if to say _Hey, it's up to you. _Ash felt his eyes wander to Ampharos who was nervously looking between him and her trainer. Something in the old Pokèmon's eye pleaded with him to accept his father's offer.

Finally Ash sighed in defeat. "All right. I'm in."

* * *

"Just like that?" Misty said, filling the lull in conversation.

Ash stared blankly into his third cup of tea. "Yeah…I mean, why not? The guy was offering me Cynthia's championship ring on a platter; how could I refuse? Besides I-" Ash trailed off, looking down uncomfortably.

"You…" Misty said before realization struck her. Ash would never admit it, especially not now, but Misty suspected that there was still a little bit of the young Ash left; the Ash who wanted to bring his father home again. He never really gave up on his father; it's just the kind of person he was. Before he could go on, she gently reached over and squeezed his hand. "I understand…so what kind of stuff did he teach you?"

Ash shrugged. "Really specialized battle strategies for the most part; nuanced little details that forced _this _Pokèmon into a corner or _that _Pokèmon to open itself up to attack. We trained for four days, all the while with him spouting advice. "Remember, Ash don't stop for a second." He told me. "Earthquake Garchomp, Thunderbolt Togekiss, Flamethrower Lucario. Above all, attack, attack, attack. Never let her gain the advantage…"

* * *

_Two Days Earlier_

"Never give her the opportunity to regroup." Roy said, watching as his Blaziken executed a series of Lucario-esque palm strikes at Charizard who nimbly ducked, dove and dodged. The frosty air on top of the Spear Pillar swirled and eddied around them but the heat the two gave off from their fight melted the snow and created a small circle of green. "Cynthia's got a level head most of the time, but when the chips are down she gets desperate and is more prone to make mistakes."

"So all I have to do is force her hand?" Ash said, sidestepping to avoid gravel dislodged from the ceiling with the force of the battle.

"More than that; make her play defense." Roy said, recalling the fainted Blaziken and deploying his Mamoswine. "Cynthia wins because her tactics focus on quickly overwhelming her opponents with special attacks. I could always beat her because I forced her out of her comfort zone and on the defense."

"Tactics? Comfort zone? You sure place a lot of faith in the trainer's hands, huh?" Ash said as Charizard dodged Mamoswine's Stone Edge effortlessly.

"Of course I do." Roy said, ordering another Stone Edge that knocked Charizard to the side. "You have to learn to be more analytical. With the right skills, you can pick apart an enemy defense and break it down into a series of necessary maneuvers. People often make the chess analogy when dealing with Pokèmon battling and I really can't think of a better way to put it besides telling you to look at each attack, each defense as a series of moves on a game board."

"Chess pieces don't think for themselves." Ash said, pleased to see Charizard dodging and countering without more than a word from him. "Micromanaging every move stifles the Pokèmon's natural urges. After all, who knows how to better use their bodies in battle? Pokèmon battles have a thousand unchartable factors that can't be analyzed or simplified into a stream of data."

Roy chuckled at this, recalling his fainted Mamoswine. "I suppose we'll just have to agree to disagree. But mark my words; you'll have an easier time of things if you take the time to study your opponent."

Ash couldn't help but shoot his father a rough, lopsided smirk. "I'll keep that in mind." He said, reaching into his pocket and wiping his forehead with a well used handkerchief."

Roy noted the pink color with a grin. "A touch too feminine, don't you think?"

Ash looked confused until Roy gestured to the handkerchief. "Oh this? It's not mine, or it wasn't originally. A friend of mine gave it to me a long time ago and I can never bring myself to get rid of it."

Roy suddenly looked interested. "This _friend _wouldn't happen to be a member of the fairer sex, would they?"

"Huh?" Ash looked blankly at Roy.

"You know…a _girl_." Roy said

"Oh! Well, yeah; of course she is." Ash said. "It's not like a guy would've given me such a frilly thing, right?"

Roy held his hands up. "Hey, I don't know that; for all I know you could be…not that there's anything wrong that but…"

"What are you blabbering about?" Ash said.

"Nothing." Roy said quickly. "I just wasn't aware that my son was such a heartbreaker, that's all."

"What're you…oh!" As thick as Ash could be, he had his fleeting moments of savvy that, in this case, caused him to blush red. "Oh, no, no, no! You've got wrong! Misty and I aren't…well…you know…"

"Heartbreaker indeed." Roy said with a raised brow. "Girl tells you how she feels and you shoot her down, huh?"

"I…huh?" Ash said

"Well, she gave you her handkerchief…and you two aren't an item…" Roy said like it was supposed to mean something to his romantically thick son.

"Yeah, so? She had to go back home to take care of her gym so I went off to Hoenn on my own! The handkerchief was just a present!"

"A present that happens to be the universal signifier of affection." Roy said. "You didn't think all those maidens in fairy tales tossed their hankies so that the handsome knights could blow their noses, did you?"

"Y-you don't know Misty!" Ash said. "She didn't mean it as a "signifier of affection" or whatever! I mean the only reason she followed me for so long is because I trashed her bike! She went home as soon as it was fixed!"

"Uh-huh." Roy said. "Tell me, how long did you two travel together?"

"Huh? Well…about a year and a half." Ash replied after a few seconds

"Uh-huh. And in that year and a half, how often did she pester you about her bike?"

"All the time!" Ash said to Roy's raised brow. "Okay…now and again…okay, once and a while…okay, one or two times."

"Right. Final question. When said bike was fixed and you pointed out that she could go home, what was her reaction?"

"Well…she ran off. I guess she was kind of distraught but…" Ash shook his head. "Y-you're imagining things!"

"Oh am I?" Roy shot a look at Pikachu who rolled his eyes in an exasperated way he learned over the years.

"Alright, alright! Enough of this!" Ash said, trying to will the color out of his face. "Back to training old man; what other pearls of wisdom do you have for me?"

"I'm afraid that's it. I've got nothing more to teach you." Roy sighed. "You're as ready as you'll ever be; it's time to head to the Indigo Plateau."

Ash blinked in confusion a few times before repeating his favorite "Huh?"

"Well, even if the Sinnoh Cup wasn't tomorrow I'm not sure how much more I could teach you. You've shown impressive skill and intuitions I've haven't seen in trainers twice your age." Roy said. "And that's the truth; there's nothing more I can do for you."

"Oh…okay…" To tell the truth, it all felt a bit anti-climactic to Ash who was expecting some kind of profound epiphany or dangerous secret technique that would assure him a victory. Actually, the whole experience was kind of a letdown save for the fact that Roy at least gave him someone to spar with. "I mean, if you're sure…"

"I am." Roy said. "I absolutely am. I'm not sure where you've been or what you've been doing for the last eighteen years-"

"Twenty." Ash corrected.

"Right, twenty. But you're stronger for it; stronger than I could have ever imagined. You don't need any more of my help that much is certain." Roy said, casually shouldering his bag. "Well, let's be going then. You've got a hell of a fight in store for you tomorrow and you'll need your sleep."

* * *

"So that was it?" Misty asked. "He said you were done and the two of you set off for the Pokèmon league and-"

"We…we didn't get as far as that." Ash said. "We had another fight."

"Oh god, what was it about-"

"He wanted to leave then. He was never planning to come to the League with me." Ash said quickly.

"He…wait, so he just trained you for the battle of your life and just decided to up and leave because…" Misty said, thoroughly confused

"He started in with his whole spiel about how if he went with me to the league, I'd try and convince him to come home with me and he didn't want to send any false signals because he was just going to leave again and blah blah blah, duty, blah blah, wandering and blah blah blah rolling stone blah blah moss…" Ash said bitterly.

"I can see how you would get pissed off at that." Misty said. "Just don't tell me you hit him again."

"No I just…I just yelled at him for about twenty minutes straight." Ash said, biting his lip. "Just…everything I wanted to say to him since he left. About how hard it was on mom, about how I never had a family growing up…just petulant kid stuff but I felt like it had to be said…anyway, all this led up to me yelling…

* * *

"I…I don't get it! I just do not freaking get it! I mean…what could be so great…so god damn _special_ that you would just give up your home and walk the Earth! Ash yelled.

Roy stared at his son for a moment, processing his lengthy diatribe. Then he jerked his chin up sharply. "Take a look above you." An impudent part of Ash wanted to refuse but he complied in spite of it, tilting his head back and letting his jaw slacken a little bit. Above the ruins of the Spear Pillar the aurora blazed in whirling eddies and streams of blue, green and purple. The stars shone brighter away from the city lights, providing a backdrop on which the aurora twisted and turned.

"Now look down." Roy said, pointing off the mountain and towards the open ocean. Across the sea the light in the sky heralded the sun's imminent arrival. A flock of Wingull roused from their sleep, skimming low over the waters to catch their breakfast and barely missing the flippers of a Wailord pod that cut a steady path through the water.

"I…I love this world." Roy said softly. "People and Pokèmon have been living her for thousands of years and we still haven't seen it all. No matter how far we come, there's always another adventure; always another rock to peek under and strange things discover. A man could spend his whole life exploring and still never understand everything. That's why-"

"You walked out on Mom…" Ash whispered, still looking out over the sea.

Roy gritted his jaw. "Your mother is an amazing woman and that's putting it mildly. And yes, I did love her. I loved her for a long time before you were born and a long time since. But…I'm a rambler, that's who I am. No matter how happy I was with your mother I always felt the pull of the open road. I need wild, raw, untamed space to live in and thrive in."

"So we tied you down?" Ash asked softly. "Cut in on your adventure time?"

Roy shook his head in agitation. By this point, his voice had taken an edge of reverence akin to religious fervor. "I'm not meant for domestic living and neither are you! This may be the first time we've met like this but this sure as hell isn't the first time I've heard your name. Your name is being whispered everywhere, always tied to some damn fool crusade or unbelievable story. Your name is getting away from you, taking on a story of its own and mingling with legends!" Roy stuck his hands in his pockets, now grinning wildly. "Let me ask you something. Say you win this thing and become a Pokèmon Master; then what?"

Ash remained quiet so Roy went on. "Are you going to stop? Are you telling Settle down and start a family like I tried to do…and make no mistake, I tried Ash. I tried to make it work for you and your mom but there's something about me that just ain't cut out for the day to day. You just can't compare the people you know to the raw beauty of this world we live in! And that's why you're out here today. Look at you, twenty years old and still trucking. Everyone else fell in line, didn't they? Everybody wants to be a "Master" but how many people actually get it? No one. Oh sure, they had their fun for a while. Putted around a few years when they were kids, maybe won a few badges, _maybe _entered a few tournaments but they all fell down. Went home, got jobs and got busy dying. But not us! We're still kicking, you and me and I guarantee we'll be kicking long after everyone we know has kicked off." Roy moved closer to Ash. "Not you…even if you win tomorrow it won't be enough. I know the feeling. You'll always look for higher mountains to climb and you'll never find that at home. Come with me." Roy repeated. "We can go off alone, father and son. I've never been one to believe in fate but…I don't know, I feel like I was meant to find you in that tunnel. Think of what we could do together; the places we'd go and the things we'd see. There's so many amazing things out there…like the Soleceon Ruins! Entire ancient structures built to honor Pokèmon protected by an unsolvable labyrinth. Or…or how about the Echoing Caverns? Frightening noises that no one's found the source of! Or the Shimmering Izu Reefs; the coral sparkles in the sunlight because of some…ah, I forget why it does that but-"

"Silicon." Ash said suddenly.

"Sorry?"

"The Corsola there…they chew up this rock that's full of silicon and spit it out to build the reefs." Ash said, still not meeting Roy's eye. "I went snorkeling there with Misty and Tracey last summer; she said the light reflects off the silicon and blinds predators that might attack their nests."

"Oh…I didn't know that-"

"And the Echoing Cavern? The noises come from a bunch of Chansey grinding rocks together and moaning to scare away trainers. Me, Gary, Misty and your friend Norman's daughter May discovered them there and saved them from some poachers. We even got Happiny eggs out of thanks."

"Really…well, you'll have to show me when-"

"And I bet you didn't know about the secret chambers in the Soleceon Ruins." Ash said, chuckling in spite of himself. "Brock got us lost in the middle of the ruins chasing the cute archeologist and we found ourselves in a chamber no one has seen in hundreds of years." Ash lifted his head again to look at the sky. "And the aurora? Hell, those are just solar winds distorting our magnetic field. Space dust and radiation screwing with our atmosphere; that's what Volkner said the last time we were up all up here together." Ash glanced over the tattered ruins, suddenly struck by the image of all his friends posing for a victorious photo shoot on the rubble.

"Wow…smart guy…" Roy said, shooting a glance at the colorful space wind.

"What about the River Races of Alto Mare? Ever competed on the backs of legendary Pokèmon?" Ash said.

"No but-"

"Have you seen World Tree? Set foot where no human ever walked before?"

"Now that's just a fairy tale." Roy insisted, shifting uncomfortably.

"Tell that to the guy who's been there." Ash said. "I've seen stranger things than you've imagined. Before I was thirteen, I clashed with Pokèmon that were more forces of nature than living beings. I've explored undersea temples. I've battled legendary beasts. I once visited a nightmarish dreamscape where the laws of nature were upended. Hell, I've even clashed with a Pokèmon some people have called God. I've seen the world for what it is and you're right; you can't compare it to the people you leave behind. Against my friends…your wonders hold glamour. They're just shiny Corsola vomit and space wind."

"Well, when you put it like that-"

"Doesn't matter how I put it." Ash said. "Even mountains of diamonds are just sparkly rocks. I could care less about dead mountains and silent forests. I'm only really happy when I'm travelling with someone and I get joy out of sharing these beautiful places with my friends!"

"Mm hmm." Roy said, sighing to himself. "These are the same friends you left to further your training?"

"Well-I…" The pretty speech Ash had planned out died in his throat. "No, that's different."

"Oh, so they left you?" Roy went on.

"Well…they had things to do and I-"

"Wanted to go on." Roy finished. "You wanted to farther than your friends were willing to go with you."

"It's not like I wanted to leave them behind!" Ash snapped. "I just…I just…"

"Couldn't stop." Roy said. "You couldn't just give up because your party broke up. Why should you? It's not your fault they quit on you."

"They didn't quit on me!" Ash yelled, voice echoing across the hills.

"Then what is it?" Roy demanded. "Convince me that your friends mean more to you than your freedom."

"It's not as simple as that! I…I still see them."

"From time to time." Roy said. "But how long have you ever stayed in one place, hm? Two days? A week tops? How long can you stay put before you get _restless_? And you get restless, don't you?"

"I do not…" Ash said, looking away but Roy pressed his advantage.

"You get all…tingly when you stay too long. Like you're supposed to be long gone but you can't tell why."

"Don't talk like you know me, old man." Ash growled defensively.

"Then tell me how long you can sleep in the same bed without losing sleep. Tell me you just relax in the league offseason instead of training in the mountains." Ash was silently grinding his teeth so Roy foolishly blundered forward. "Tell me you would give up all training, all the travelling, all the _fun _you've had over the years to shack up with that girl who gave you her hand-"

Roy tried to finish his sentence but he soon discovered that it was very difficult to get his point across while he was struggling to breathe. Ash snapped out, driving the heel of his palm straight into the older trainer's stomach. Roy made a strange gagging sound as all the air left his lungs and he was sent sprawling and spluttering on the stone tiles.

Ash clenched and unclenched his hands in impulsive, impotent anger. "Don't….don't talk about my friends. You don't know anything, _anything _about my friends." Ash grabbed his bag, rousing Pikachu from his surprisingly deep nap. "And you sure as hell don't know me."

Roy struggled to his feet, uneasily grabbing his own bag uneasily. He looked as if he might try to apologize and he started a couple times before just trailing off awkwardly. "You'll do well tomorrow…I still believe in you; you are my son after all…"

"Just go." Ash said without anger.

Roy nodded silently and Ash turned his back as his father left. He waited until his footsteps were out of earshot before turning back to the Pokèmon League.

"_Pikapi?" _Pikachu asked worried that he had napped through his trainer's scuff with his father.

"Nothing." Ash muttered. "Let's go."

* * *

"Attention! Attention! All trainers check in with their respective judges in two hours!"

Ash was only distantly aware of the announcer's words as he made his way down the hallway towards his assigned room. His steps were heavy and there was a slouch in his walk that he hadn't shook since he came down from the mountain. His team was getting healed, he was poised for the fight of his life and…

Roy's words bounced around in his head, jostling any other thoughts out of the way. Ash stood, hand on the doorknob to his hotel room but for some reason he couldn't turn it. He stood there for a few minutes, getting strange looks from the trainers that passed him but his father's words froze him in his spot. He couldn't move; he couldn't turn the damn handle.

Ash stepped back, suddenly confused as to what he should do. In that confusion, he started to panic as he suddenly found himself unable to proceed.

"ATTENTION! ATTENTION! ALL TRAINERS CHECK IN WITH THEIR RESPECTIVE JUDGES IN TWO HOURS!"

_What the hell is wrong with me?_ Ash thought. _Pull yourself together, Ash. That old bastard was just talking crap. He doesn't know you…he doesn't know you…right? _

Ash suddenly found himself bolting towards the Pokèmon Center without thinking about it. Maybe a good fly on Staraptor would clear his mind…maybe…

He didn't know where he was going; all he knew was that there was that feeling telling him to go. And that scared him more than anything.

* * *

"…and I just took off." Ash finished. "I flew around for a while, not really paying attention to where I was going. Finally, I decided to come here…I didn't know where else to go."

Misty nodded, calmly dealing with a conflicting mess of emotions. On one hand, seeing Ash look so defeated was heartbreaking and half of her wanted to just grab him and hold him. The other half of her was pissed as hell at Ash's father for screwing him up like he did. More than anything though, Misty wanted to know "Ash…why did you come to me?"

Ash bit his lip. "I guess you've always made things clear for me. You know me…really well. Right now, you probably know me better than I do…I'm just so…confused. So…what do I do now, Misty?"

* * *

_AN: Yes, what do you do now Ash? Are you going to spend another four THOUSAND words on this, hmm? _

_I swear to Arceus I thought this was going to be the last one but this way, I'll finish my Alden Nowlan quote…stay tuned and see where this is headed. I SWEAR this is going to be the finale! Things are going to get good (and pretty steamy now that i think about it...) _

_Reviewing makes me very happy and when I'm happy I tend to write better!_

_DOTMW_


	5. Finishing The Puzzle

**The Sound of Falling Rain**

**V**

…and the day he forgives himself, he becomes wise.  
Alden Nowlan

* * *

It was a full minute and a half of awkward silence as Misty tried to put a thoughtful sentence together.

_He wants me to tell him what to do?_ She thought, looking at him over. He had dropped his insistent, pleading eyes which Misty was thankful for. She felt more and more uncomfortable the longer he stared at her.

_What do I do? _

The way he said it carried a certain gravity that made Misty pause to choose her words carefully the wrong word at the wrong time could do irrevocable harm. Even worse, Misty wasn't used to handling Ash so carefully. If this was a normal situation (one that was in no danger of spiraling into catastrophe) she'd tell him to just snap out of it and that his dad is a miserable old bastard and that everything was going to be alright. Now…well, his dad is still a bastard but Misty didn't know if it was "going to be alright" and Ash was to deep in "it" to snap out.

"I'm just so…confused." Ash stood up, irritably pacing this way and that as if he wasn't even sure of which direction to aimlessly wander in. "Like I can't even move because I think I'll misstep and crash."

"So…okay…" Misty tried to say something a few times before stopping herself. "I still don't understand why you came to me."

"I came to get hammered out." Ash said. "I feel like…I'm all lumpy and bent. Not even sad or angry anymore; just broken up and scrambled like a picture that someone took a jigsaw to and cut to pieces and I'm missing the box so I don't know how the puzzle is supposed to go together and then the wind blows the pieces off the t-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Misty said, rubbing her temples. "Calm down! Your metaphors are getting ridiculous…"

"Sorry." Ash said.

"Let's just…_calm down_." Misty said. "You're making me nervous."

"_You're _nervous?" Ash said. "_I'm _nervous! At least I think I'm nervous…am I nervous?"

"Yes!" Misty said. "Jittery, fidgety, panicky…this is nervous!"

"But I…I…I don't get nervous!" Ash spluttered. "I haven't been nervous since I was like, twelve!"

"Well you are now!" Misty said. "And now you're making _me_ nervous so just…sit!"

"Sit?"

"Just sit…" Misty said, patting the couch beside her. "Let's take five minutes and …chill."

"Right…chill." Ash said, sinking to the couch. "Just chill…"

"Okay." Misty said, taking a deep breath of her own. "Okay…are you chilled?"

"Getting there…getting there…more like lukewarm than chilled but—"

"Alright, we'll settle for lukewarm." Misty said. "I just don't understand what…why is this happening now?"

"This?" Ash said.

I mean _this!" _Misty said, gesturing vaguely. "_This _isn't like you! You, here, panicky, now! You…you don't freak out!"

"I know…I know…" Ash sighed. "Lately I haven't felt like much of myself."

"Yeah, getting lectured by your bastard father can do that to you, huh?" Misty said.

"I guess but…I don't think that's all there is to it." Ash said. "I mean, he said some pretty shaking things back there but most of the time, I would have just shaken it off. I don't usually take what most people say to heart."

"Well, did you?" Misty asked. "Is that why you're second guessing yourself like this; because of what your father said?"

Ash rubbed the back of his neck irritably. "Well…yes and no. It was the right combination of suck at the wrong time."

"Wrong time?" Misty said. "Is there a right time to get verbally assaulted by your father?"

"I guess not but still…things hadn't exactly been going great for me before we met up in the mountain." Ash said

Misty frowned at this; this was the first she had heard of anything regarding Ash's year of solo travel. "You never mentioned that…not to me at least."

Ash fidgeted uncomfortably. "Well…I meant to but…I guess I just didn't think of it. It's not really something I want to talk about around you guys."

"Why don't you?" Misty asked, shifting on the couch so that she was closer to him. "C'mon, you know I'll listen to whatever's on your mind right?"

"It's been a long time since we've seen each other, huh?" Ash said suddenly. "When was the last time we talked like this?"

"Well…um…a year, right?" Misty said. "But we've talked between since then-"

"But it's been a year, a whole _year _since we've seen each other face to face." Ash said. "And before that? Before the whole Team Galactic debacle when did we talk last?"

"Oh hell, I don't know!" Misty cried in frustration. "Do you want the logbook of every time we talked since we met? So what if we haven't seen each other in a while? It's not like we grew apart."

"Not yet." Ash said. "Not yet…but ever since we stopped traveling together, we've gone longer and longer between visits. I mean I always swing by when I'm in the neighborhood but that's only every so often. I can never find May anymore; she's hopping around more than I am. Dawn's pretty easy to find but usually she's halfway across the world at her new place. Gary's taking over his grandpa's research, Tracey's working with Prof. Ivy, Brock's got his gym to look after….last year was the last time I saw any of you guys and it took the end of the world to get us in the same place!" Ash stood up irritably.

"Alright, remember when we talked about _chilling out_?" Misty said

"I don't _want _to chill out right now!" Ash said, tangling his fingers in his hair. "This…this…this _sucks!_ I hate that I never see you guys anymore! I hate traveling all by myself! I'm…I'm…" He turned this way and that, like he was unsure of which way to pace. He grabbed handfuls of his hair in agitation, twisting it around his fingers. "God…I'm scared."

It took all of Misty's restraint not to wrap her arms around him in the tightest hug in recorded history. That wouldn't really do him any good _now _in the middle of a total nervous breakdown. Instead, she reached up and grabbed his hands in hers, gently prying them open and untwisting them from his hair. As soon as Ash's hands were free, Misty's hands took their place as she forced him to look at her.

"Stop" she said as softly as she could. "Slow. Down. You have a million and one things on your mind without worrying about hyperventilating. So just _please _just stop this…and _sit down._"

"But…" Ash trailed off as Misty guided him down to the couch firmly.

"Before you say another word, I need you to take five minutes and just _chill_." Misty said. "And this is the _last _time I'm asking. Believe me; next time, you're chilling out in the Dewgong tank."

"Oh, I believe you." Ash took a few shuddering breaths. "Okay…okay. I'm good now….well, I'm better now…well-"

"Shh." Misty said, gently silencing him with a hand to his lips. She felt a tremble, whether from his sentence cut short or something else she couldn't say for sure. "God, you're shaking…"

"Sorry…" Ash mumbled against her fingers. "I must be freaking you out, huh?"

"A little." Misty admitted. She quickly moved her hand away from his lips when she realized how long they were there. "We're freaking out together here. I really want to know _why-_"

"It's…I'm scared that…" Ash trailed off into incoherent mumbles.

"What?" Misty asked, not quite understanding.

"I just…I don't want be like him." Ash said quickly, quietly and with a self conscious look on his face.

"You're worried about turning into a hateful jackass?" Misty said. "Because I don't think-"

"No. It's not that." Ash said, rubbing his eyes. "You know, I think it'd be easier if I could hate him. At least then I just write him off and be on my merry way but…all I can do is feel sorry for him."

"He leaves you and your mom, disappears for fifteen years and then, when he shows up, he proceeds to act like a self-serving jerkass…and you feel sorry for him?" Misty said in disbelief. "Why?"

"He's got no one…" Ash said. "He's totally alone. I mean, he's got his Pokèmon but other than that he's totally alone. I can't…I can't even begin to imagine not having anywhere to go. That's _sad. _That's just sad. I know I have every right to hate him and be bitter towards him but I just can't anymore. I can't help but feel sorry for him; he's just…"

"A bum." Misty finished.

Ash chuckled weakly. "I guess you could say that."

"No literally; he's the most successful loser I've ever heard of." Misty said. "I guess when you put it that way it makes sense but…still nothing good about that."

"I know, I know." Ash said.

"And you can't compare yourself to your dad!" Misty continued, eagerly. "He can't honestly expect to show up after fifteen years of flitting around hell's half acre and tell you how to live your life!"

"Still, he was alone." Ash said in a way that killed Misty's steam. "He traveled the whole world until he was twenty and then fifteen years after that…and after all that, he's got nothing to show for it. He's got team full of strong Pokèmon and every badge in the world but he still ran away from everyone who loved him and now he's just bouncing around in random caves pissing off packs of wild Pokèmon for fun…"

"I know that but why are you-" Misty trailed off, slowly piecing together everything Ash said. "Oh..."

"Honestly, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore…" Ash said. "I don't even think I ever really _knew, _you know?"

"No, not really." Misty said, rubbing her temples. "You're not making as much sense as you think you are..."

Ash threw his hands up. "Well…I came here, because I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

"Well, that's _nice_." Misty said dryly. "That makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

"Th-that's not what I meant!" Ash blurted out hastily. "I-I just meant that of all the places I thought about going, this was the only place that made sense for me to go. This was the only place I really wanted to be!"

A low rumble of thunder filled the silence following Ash's outburst as neither of them knew what to say. Ash was looking embarrassed again and for the second time that night, Misty mirrored his expression. Finally,it was Misty who broke silence when she asked "Why?"

"Why, what?" Ash said.

"Why does this place "make sense?" Misty asked. "I still don't get why you didn't go to Dawn or Brock or Gary; they're closer."

"You've known me longer." Ash said.

"Not longer than Gary." Misty countered.

"Better then." Ash said. "Gary and I hated each others guts for years; you've really been close to me longer than anyone else."

"Okay…but that doesn't mean they don't care about you!" Misty said. "They're just as worried about you as I am."

Ash frowned slightly. "Who else knows?"

"I'd imagine everyone now." Misty said. "But I called everybody earlier-"

"You called them?" Ash said in a tone that Misty couldn't quite decipher. "Who?"

"Like I said, everybody." Misty said. "

I think it's safe to say that after all the time we spent together we've earned that right to worry about you."

"I don't want you to have to." Ash said suddenly and a little sharper than he meant.

Misty recoiled a little. "_Have _to?"

Ash shrunk, a little embarrassed. "Well… you're busy with your own life here…I don't want dump all my crap on you when you have your own to deal with."

"I don't-" Misty stopped herself. "Well yeah, I have my life here but…but you're still a part of it!"

"I know but-hey!" Whatever Ash was about to say next was cut off when Misty suddenly started fishing around the side of his belt. "Wh-What are you-"

"Stop fidgeting." Misty said, working hard to keep her finger on his belt. "Where's your phone?"

"In my pocket…but I'll get it!" Ash said, reddening.

"Give it." Misty ordered with outstretched hand.

"I don't think I have any calls." Ash said. "But then again it's been-"

"_Give it." _Mist said, taking the phone with a sigh.

"Misty, what are you-"

"_You have eighteen new messages" _A tinny voice came from the earpiece_. "First new message…"

* * *

_

"_Hey Ash…it's Misty. I was just calling to see how things were...so call me back as soon as you get this. Okay, bye."_

_BEEP!_

"_Hey Ashey…it's Gary. Listen, I know about the whole tournament/cup thing…whatever, man. I don't really care about any of that just give me a call when you get this, yeah? Okay…bye_."

_BEEP! _

"_Ash? ASH? Where the __**hell**__ are you? Misty just called us and apparently you think it's funny to disappear without telling anyone where you're going! Let me tell you something, you're in a world of trouble when I get a hold of-HEY!" _

"_Ash, it's Drew."_

"_Give it back!"_

"_Don't take May's little conniption to heart; we're not mad at you."_

"_Speak…for…your…self! Drew! Give it!"_

"_**We**__ just want to know that you're okay. Call us back when you can."_

"_No, don't hang-"_

_BEEP! _

"_H-hi Ash! Uh, i-it's Dawn. Long time no see, h-huh? I-I was just calling to…you know c-catch up and see how…how y-you're doing…a-a-and…please just call me when you get this. Misty just c-called us and she's…we're all worried e-even though May probably called you just to y-yell I know she's worried too and…and…Misty's worried about you too…whatever it is, we can help you together we just want to know that you're alright…please…call me back."_

_BEEP! _

"_Hey Ash, it's Brock. I've got about ten seconds to talk before my next lecture so listen up. I'm sure you have a good reason for wordlessly disappearing without a trace and it's not like you __**have **__to inform us of everything you do but at the same time, stunts like this tend to unsettle us. I know that you can take care of yourself, but just drop us a line when you get this and let me know you're still breathing. It'll make me feel a whole hell of a lot better. Take care." _

_BEEP!_

"_Hey Ash, it's Tracey. Heh…three hundred miles from the nearest cell tower and Misty still finds Ivy's satellite number to see if we've heard from you. She made me promise to keep an eye out so I thought I'd give you a call. I don't really have a TV and Misty was pretty vague about all this but I could tell she was pretty frazzled. You know that thing she does where she sighs and says "Okay…" a lot? Yeah, she was doing that. So, whatever it is just let her know you're okay. It'll make us all feel better. Oops; got to go. The Skitty are acting strangely around the Wailord lately and Ivy's worried that...you know what; never mind. G'bye. _

_BEEP! _

"_Hello? Ash? Um…this is Volkner. I found your number on Dawn's cell and…I know this may sound weird coming from me but I was calling…to check up on you. Granted, we don't know each other all that well but then again, I guess I'm not really asking for my piece of mind. I…I stopped by Dawn's summer house after you disappeared and…well she's pretty upset. I know it's not my place to tell you what you can and can't do and I'm sure you had a good reason for leaving the way you did. But at the same time...she's worried about you. She cares about you so much and you know that. You probably don't know it, but I care about __**her**__ a lot. So, when you get this message, please call her. Just…I don't know; let her know you're alright. Thanks…bye_

_BEEP! _

"_Hi Ash, it's Flint. Listen, Volkner wanted me to call you for…some reason. I dunno, he said I would know what this was about buuuuuut…can't say I do. Something to do with…hm…It'll come to me. I'll call you back". _

_BEEP! _

"_Oy, Ash! Cynthia here calling to say…what the hell, man? What, you just decided not to show up? Me and Garchomp were looking forward to seeing how long you and Pikachu could last against our beefed up Earthquake!"_

"_**Garrrr**__!" _

"_I know, right! We would have dropped you like bad habit! But seriously…give us a call and make sure you take care of yourself. I can't very well beat you if you wind up dead on the side of the road…kay, bye"_

"_P.S. don't tell Misty I said that. I really don't want to spend the night in her Gyarados tank." _

_BEEP!_

"_Um, Ash? H-hi, it's Brendan calling. Um, for what it's worth, I really missed your battle against Cynthia this year…I mean, not to be selfish or anything but…you probably could've won. That's probably not why you left or anything but…just thought you should know. Uh, wow…that sounded a lot less stupid in my head. Forget I said it!"_

_BEEP!_

"_Ash! It's Flint! I remembered what I wanted to talk to you about! I was talking to Volkner last week and I was thinking to myself hey, what if instead of summoning my Pokèmon from balls on my belt, what if I kept the balls in my afro and summoned them from its…wait, that's not it…shoot, I'll call you back."_

_BEEP!_

"_Ash, it's Max. May called me to see what's going on but I told her I hadn't seen you. Wait, you know that already. Anyway, whatever's going on, me and Gallade are really pulling for you! Give me a call if you get this and take care, man. _

_BEEP! _

"_Hello, Ash. This is Paul. Don't ask how I got this number; suffice to say that I have connections that you wouldn't think I would have. I have to say, I was truly disappointed that we didn't get an opportunity to battle this year. I can't say for sure how much stronger you've gotten so my entire training schedule is thrown out of whack. Bloody inconsiderate of you to keep me waiting like this. Call me when you can so we can schedule a full battle. One way or another, I'll see you in the ring." _

_BEEP!_

"_ASH! I REMEMBERED! This is about that whole tournament thing, right? Well I just wanted to say…that…that…hm, now that I've remembered what I wanted to talk about, I forgot what I wanted to say…I'll call you back!" _

_BEEP! _

"_Hello? Is this thing on? Ash? If you can hear me, it's Professor Oak speaking! I was just calling to say not to worry about the tournament and that there is always next year! If you ask me, a young man like yourself should take a vacation every once and a while; you work far too hard for someone so young. Hit the beach! Take a ski trip! Get your mind off of battling for ten seconds; I reckon it'd do you some good! Why, this trip to South Sevii is just the thing I needed to clear my mind. I remember coming here when I was just a boy…of course, there weren't so many buildings here the last time. I mean, for all intents and purposes, it's just a desert isle with some nice foliage, but it's __**nice **__and the beaches are just breathtaking. Now, I'm not one for the beach, but my point is-"_

_BEEP! _

"_Ash, it's Norman. I don't know why you left the way you did, but I have a sinking suspicion that me and Cynthia are looking in to. If I'm wrong, then I'm sure you can sort this business out without my help. If I'm right, then Roy's a bastard, don't listen to a word he says and I'll throttle him the second I see him again. Okay, bye." _

_BEEP! _

"_Hey Ash, Flint here. I got it, I got it! I know you got cold feet and all and I just wanted to say never give up! Trust your instincts! If you can't believe in yourself, believe in me, who believes in you! Put ya guns on, man! Life getting tough means the gods are afraid of your progress! Grab life by the horns! Fear is a reflex, confidence is a choice! Whatever they offer you, don't feed the…well, you get the idea. GUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTS!" _

_BEEP! _

"_Ash…it's mom. I'm stuck here in Goldenrod until they get the trains running again and I saw the special on the news. I honestly can't say I'm not surprised but I'm not too worried. That must sound strange coming from a mother who has no idea where her son is in the middle of thunderstorm but, if I know you, you're probably safe and sound at a friend's house by now. One thing about you is that I've never had to worry about you being lost, or alone. You've always had enough friends that would come through for you. So…be safe and call me whenever you can. I love you…and I'm proud of you."

* * *

_

"_End of new messages..." _

"People are tearing the world apart looking for you because they care about you." Misty said.

"Th-thanks." Ash said softly. "I needed to hear that."

"I thought you knew that already." Misty said, laying a hand on his knee.

"I don't know…I guess I'm just scared of being alone." Ash admitted shakily. "More than anything else, I'm scared of drifting so far away from you and…everyone else that it becomes hard to stay friends. And I can't stand that, Misty; you're too important to me. You all are." He added quickly.

"But you're here now." Misty said gently. "_This_ has to count for something."

"Yeah, I guess…" Ash said, a little uncertainly. "I don't know, I guess I'm just-"

"What?" Misty prompted when he didn't respond.

Ash looked down at his hands folded in his lap. "I guess I'm just feeling a little lonely, that's all. I know it sounds kinda selfish of me but…I really miss you…" Ash said abashedly, before quickly adding "Guys. I miss you…guys."

Misty bit her lip. "I don't think that's selfish." She said quietly.

"No?"

"Not at all!" Misty said fiercely before looking down. "I…I know how you feel." She looked down when Ash reached out to brush his fingers against her hand on his knee and caught a flash of concern dart across his face.

_Great, _she thought, _now he looks worried. _ She almost pulled away but Ash gently wrapped his pinky around hers and pulled her hand back.

"What do you mean "you know how I feel?" Ash said.

"It's nothing." Misty murmured. "Forget it."

"No." Ash said.

"It's not important." Misty said.

"It is to me." Ash said with a smile. "You know I'm not going to give up on this, right?

"I know, I know." Misty sighed. "I guess I just mean that…I know how hard it is to go without seeing the people you care about."

"What?" Ash said. "But I thought you kept in touch with everyone! At least you knew about Dawn's thirty year old boyfriend…"

"Twenty-two." Misty corrected gently. "And that was mostly through e-mail and social networking. The last time I saw everybody in person was about a year ago. You're gone, my sisters are hopping from town to town and everyone else…well, like you said, they have their own lives to busy themselves with. I guess…I don't know, I've never had a reason to drop in on them."

"But…I don't understand how you can feel that way." Ash said. "They're your friends, Misty."

"I know…this is really stupid." Misty dismissed. "But I sometimes feel sorry for myself. After particularly long days, I get these ugly thoughts that I really hate. You know, "My sisters dumped this gym on me," "I never see my friends anymore," "All my dates get interrupted by brats looking for a Gym Battle." And I know this is all just selfish, but…I can't help thinking these things…"

"You never said…you never said anything." Ash said

"I didn't want to." Misty said. "I'm not particularly proud of these feelings; I just thought you should know that…you're not the only one who feels this way."

"I'm sorry." Ash interrupted suddenly.

"For what?" Misty shook her head quickly. "It's not your fault."

"Why not?" Ash said, frowning at the floor. "Your sisters leave you in charge of the gym…and I leave without a second thought. If it's not my fault, then whose is it?"

"It's nobody's fault." Misty said. "Like I said, they're just my feelings."

"You shouldn't have to feel that way." Ash blurted out. "It's not right that you're stuck here while we're off gallivanting in the world."

"But it's nobody's fault!" Misty repeated. "God, Ash, sometimes things just _suck _and it's nobody's fault!"

"But I walked out on you." Ash said with a detached quiver in his voice. "I left you alone to deal with your stuff and I never looked back. How can you not blame me?"

"Because IT'S NOT YOUR FAULT!" Misty screamed in frustration. Ash visibly recoiled but Misty went on before he could properly react.

"I…have…_never_…blamed you. Not once. Not ever. Even after my longest days just drain my energy away…I've blamed everyone _but _you." Misty clenched her hands to keep them from shaking. "My sisters…this gym…my parents…every absent, harmless target of all my pent up, _impotent _anger…but _not _you. Because it's not your fault…"

"I would have stayed." Ash said. "If you wanted me to…"

"Of course I wanted you…" Misty said. "You don't understand what you do to people…"

"What I _do _to people?" Ash said.

"If you knew you like I knew you, you would understand." Misty said. "Why do you think people want to be around you? Why do you think everyone wants to be your friend?"

"Why?" Ash asked, a little dazed. "Are you saying there's something about me that just draws people?"

"God…I forget how dense you can be." Misty gave a watery chuckle. "It's hard to explain, and believe me I've tried to quantify it. I remember chatting with Brock and Dawn a few weeks ago and we just started swapping stories…retelling the ones we've already told…you never told her about the summer festival at Maiden's Peak."

"I didn't?" Ash mused. "I'm not surprised…I don't really remember it that well…just ghosts…something about long lost lover…I _know _that was when you let your hair down for the first time since I met you."

"Yeah?" Misty said. "I don't remember that…"

"Yeah…that was the first time you wore anything besides jean shorts and a tank top…pink's not a bad color on you."

"Oh god, I think I still have that old thing!" Misty moaned in embarrassment. "See…this is what I mean. You just have this…thing."

"I have a thing?" Ash said.

"You just have a _thing _okay!" Misty said. "Don't look at me like that! Everyone can see it…"

"_Everyone_ can see my thing?" Ash said

"Shut up!" Misty said, blushing. "That's not what I-"

A clap of thunder followed by a bright flash plunged the room into darkness. Misty jumped at the loss of power and though she fought an urge to grab Ash's hand she felt him reach out and grab her hand himself.

"Wh-what happened?" Ash asked.

"Must've hit the power line." Misty said. "That, or we've gone partially blind."

"I thought Gyms had backup generators." Ash said.

"Just for the tanks; keeps the ice cold for the Dewgong." Misty unconsciously shifted a little closer to Ash. "It's gonna get cold tonight, though."

"Hm…" Ash said. "Right…" They were quiet for a second before Ash asked, "So…my thing…"

"R-right…" Misty said. "Well…it's really hard to explain…but I don't know why you sell yourself so short. Right now, you're doubting and second-guessing yourself for no reason. You don't need to act so lonely; you've got one of the biggest families in the world. There's just some…thing about you that makes people want to be around you. I saw it, Brock saw it…even your father saw it. You have this…powerful attraction that makes us want to be with you. It's like we can tell…you're someone special. So, we decide to follow you. And after we get to know you, it makes us glad we did. Because just being around you…makes us better. Your infernally stubborn attitude and unfailingly good heart rub off on us. We love to be with you because…you make it so easy to…love you."

"L-Love me?" Ash said.

"We all love you." Misty said, feeling her throat tighten up. "Some of us…more than others."

And then, Misty felt something strange take hold of her. Maybe it was the mental exhaustion of Ash's story, maybe it was the stress of her work week piling up on her or maybe it was fourteen year old Misty sensing a weakness in her prison and breaking free. Whatever it was, Misty leaned in to kiss Ash…

Or at least she wanted to.

You see, Misty didn't have a lot of romantic experience. Truth was, being a Gym Leader consumed most of her time and her dates had a damnably annoying habit of being interrupted by plucky young trainers looking for a battle. So, even under the best conditions, Misty wasn't the most experienced kisser. That being said, sitting sideways in the dark was _not _the best condition. So, whatever tender gesture of affection Misty was planning, she ended up falling forward and headbutting Ash across the face.

_THUNK!_

"Ow!" Ash said, grabbing his forehead. "Hey! Wh-what I do?"

"Nutting!" Misty said, holding her nose. "Nutting! I'b sawwy…"

"I know I've been kinda whiny lately but did you have to go and headbutt me?"

"I waddn't twying to hedbutt yu!" Misty said, thankful that the blood rushing to her cheeks wasn't coming out her nose. "I wad twying do kith yu!"

"Hey, are you alright? Did you hit your nose or some-" Ash froze in mid sentence as his brain caught up with what Misty said. "Y-you…ah, what?"

"I was trying to kiss you but I slipped and fell and hit my stupid nose and now all I want to do is melt into the couch and die." Misty blurted out.

Misty heard Ash swallow hard. "Y-y-you were going to…um…h-hey, r-run that by me again? Wh-why…ah…"

Having completely abandoned her allotted dignity for the day, Misty said. "I…I don't know why. It's just something I always wanted to do and I figured…you know what, it doesn't matter." Misty shook her head quickly as she was overwhelmed with a fresh wave of humiliation. "Just…just forget it."

"Wait…Misty." Ash said

"I-I'm just going to b-bed…I'll see you in th-"

_THUNK!_

"Ow, ow, ow!" Misty cried as Ash's face unceremoniously slammed into hers. "Demmit, I thed I wath sawwy!"

"Sawwy…sawwy…" Ash said, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I didet mean to…"

"Watevah…" Misty mumbled, shaking her head out. "Did y-you…I m-mean were you going t-to…"

"Uh…w-well… yeah." Ash mumbled hesitantly. "I-I figured as long as we were talking about it…I mean, i-it's not like I haven't…considered it."

Misty swallowed painfully past the lump in her throat. "Well…i-if you want we can…"

"Um…y-yeah, sure." Ash said

The sound of falling rain and her own thundering heartbeat were the only things Misty could hear. She raised one shaky hand to cup his face behind his ear and turn his head until she guessed he was facing her. The other hand reached up to take the other side of his face, more for aim than anything else. At the same time, Ash timidly scooted closer almost afraid to spoil the moment. Misty twisted around, then got up to kneel on the couch so she could properly face him as her eyes adjusted to the dark. She leaned in, which made Ash lean back until his head hit the pillow and Misty was kneeling between his legs. Then, soft as two flies running into each other, they leaned in and finally kissed.

Once.

Twice. (A little harder)

Three times. (Misty fell forward onto Ash's chest)

After that, it became hard to focus on anything besides the tangle of lips, teeth and tongue as the three crashed and mingled together haphazardly. Hardly the vision of romantic perfection Misty expected from a first kiss but she wasn't exactly an expert on perfect kissing. But if Ash was a less than perfect kisser when they started, he seemed to be learning or at least reading her movements better as they went on. He pulled back a little when they accidentally knocked teeth, tilted his head to better fit their noses together and stopped biting her lip when she made a noise of discomfort. She pressed back, hungrily kissing him again and again. Years of secret admiration had led her _here _and she'd be damned to miss what might be her only opportunity. Any second, she expected him to pull away, make some excuse to spare her feelings then leave. Her lips lingered a little longer on his as if she was waiting his word of protest but he only took this as his cue to take charge and hesitantly pressed harder against her, cupping her face with fresh-learned grace.

They stayed like that for an unknowable while before a flash of lightning and a deep roll of thunder broke the spell. Their eyes flashed in the half light coming from the streetlights outside. They broke away from each other, hovering inches away from each other's face and waiting for the other to say something.

Misty bit her lip, feeling her breath hitch in her throat. Sometime in the thick of things one of her hands snuck its way under his shirt and lingered on the waistband of his shorts, fingers lightly pressed against his stomach. At the same time, one of his hands rested on the small of her back while the other was lightly gripping the back of her leg. His breath was coming in shallow bursts and Misty was surprised to learn that his breath still smelled like her toothpaste. Toothpaste. _That's _what she fixated on. There was an unspoken undercurrent of electricity pulsing between them; as if they were teetering on the edge of a cliff with no way of knowing what was at the bottom.

"You know…w-we can stop…i-if you want…" Misty said shakily.

Ash shook his head. "No…not if you don't want to…"

"No…"

"Me neither." Ash said sheepishly

"Okay…" Misty said. "But promise you'll say something if things get…weird."

"They won't." Ash said, leaning in and kissing her again.

Outside, thunder rumbled and rain poured down and the storm redoubled its strength.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a smoky old bar, halfway across the world, Roy stared blankly into his empty glass. He rolled it around on the table long after he drained it, staring at his reflection in the bottom imposed on the dingy bartop. Smoke hung in the air despite the fact that there didn't seem to be anything actively producing it. Still, it was the only place quiet enough to think in. Roy thought of staying at the Pokèmon Center until his team had finished healing but he found the lumpy chairs and hospital air too uncomfortable.

Speaking of uncomfortable, the TV over the bar played the result of Roy's latest meddling every fifteen minutes on the news, sports and gossip channels playing over the bar.

You know; in case he forgot.

Somewhere in-between refills, the bartender drew Roy's attention away from the screens. "Hey," Roy met the bartender's eyes. "I have to take a call out back. Could you just…"

"Yeah, sure." Roy said, waving him off. The bartender mumbled incoherent thanks before disappearing out the back door.

"_And thus concluded this year's Sinnoh Cup, almost three hours ago." _The sportscaster concluded on the TV above Roy. "_With no conclusive victory against Cynthia, she remains the Sinnoh Grand Champion until next year. Still no word from Kanto's Ash Ketchum who disappeared shortly before he was slated to compete in the finals. Many analysts believe that Ash's disappearance was a significant contributing factor in the brevity of this year's-"_

"Oh, shut up." Roy growled, reaching for the remote across the bar. "I get it already…" Roy sighed in spite of himself, swallowing a piece of ice with a grimace reflected in the mirror across the bar. He met his reflection with a scowl, still unable to shake the cloud of gloom that hung around him

"Well, well, well; I thought I'd find you here."

Roy's stomach dropped somersaulted, kickflipped and landed shakily upside down. He knew that voice; he'd heard that voice thousands of times before. Problem was, the last time Roy heard that voice it was attached to a mouth, attached to a head, attached to body, attached to an arm, attached to a fist that last attached itself to the side of his head at high speeds. Before he could turn around, the voice and the man that went with it had taken a seat beside him.

"Hey Roy." Norman said, sliding onto the barstool beside Roy. Twenty years did nothing to diminish his old friend's impressive build. Norman was about ten years older than Roy but he looked about five years younger and ten years fitter. A small part of Roy wondered if Norman was here to finish a beating he started twenty years ago.

"N-Norman…" Roy said. "H-hey…l-long time no see."

"Mm. I guess it has." Norman said. "Longer still since I was out all night looking for you. You're a tough man to get a hold of."

"L-looking for me?" Roy said. "Um…how did you…well, how did you know where to find me?"

"_I _found you, thank you very much." A second, familiar voice chimed in from the doorway. It sounded older, surer than the last time he heard it but then again the last time he heard it, it was choked with tears and slowly backing away from him; people change.

"It's amazing what you can do when you flash League certification in someone's face." Cynthia said, taking a seat on Roy's other side. "I made a few calls and found out from nurse at the Center that you dropped your Pokèmon off about an hour ago. So, since you weren't at the hospital, I figured you were here."

"Well, it was the only other place that was open." Roy chuckled weakly. "Just killing time…"

"Is that so?" Norman said quietly.

"It's…wow; it's been a while huh?" Roy said lamely, still warily keeping an eye on Norman.

"Oh, twenty years, give or take." Cynthia said with an impish wink. "Hey, don't bars usually have bartenders?"

"He stepped out for a second; I think his wife-hey!" Cynthia hopped the bar and started rifling through the rows of bottles. "Wh-what's gotten into you?"

"Nothing." Cynthia said. "Just helping myself."

"You can't just do that!" Roy said.

"I can't?" Cynthia said in mock indignation. "That's weird because I think, _I think _I just did."

"But-"

"You can't fight her, Roy." Norman said wearily. "I learned that a long time ago."

"Smart man." Cynthia said. "Where do you think they keep the ice around here?"

"I…Ice?" Roy said, rubbing his eyes wearily. "You want ice?"

"Yeah…among other things." Cynthia said, holding a half empty bottle up to the light and shaking the contents around.

"Great. Well…not for nothing but what are you guys doing here? It's not like…well, we haven't really kept in touch or anything."

"Good question!" Cynthia said, adding mint and lemon to a martini shaker and picking up a few glasses from the shelf. "Norman, you want to enlighten him?"

"I got a phone call from my daughter early tonight." Norman said without preamble. "It turns out an old friend of hers failed to turn up for a check in at the Sinnoh League Championships."

"What does that…oh." Roy said dumbly. "Oh…"

"Actually I called first." Cynthia said. "And I have to say, the matches were pretty damn pathetic without your boy to liven things up."

"So how did I know about Ash and I?" Roy said.

"I only made the connection recently." Norman said. "He sort of looks like you but I never knew Delia's last name was Ketchum so it wasn't like I knew he was yours. Of course when I heard about all of this…"

"You immediately thought about me." Roy said, bitterly. "Was it that obvious I was involved?"

"Let's face it; you're a pretty shitty father." Cynthia said, wincing as she sipped her drink. "Damnit, where is the _ice?_"

Roy slammed his fist against the bar. "Well it's not like I try to, damnit! I don't make it a point or go out of my way to be a jackass! It's just…"

"It comes naturally to you." Norman said. "You have bad people skills and you cope with that by driving everyone away in one way or another. You stay too long in one place and you start acting edgier than a long tailed Persian in a room full of rocking chairs. To be honest, you're hard to be around sometimes."

"So you tracked me down just to tell me what an unlikable ass I am?" Roy said quietly. "Because believe me, I feel bad enough without your help."

"Don't get it twisted; we're not here to pick on you." Cynthia said. "We just want to know what happened between you and Ash."

"He ran into me; what more do you need to know?" Roy said. "We started talking-"

"That'll do it." Norman chuckled.

"I don't know…when I first met him I was worried that he'd totally freak out and slug me…" Roy said.

"And?" Cynthia said.

"Well, he did." Roy admitted. "But there was something about him…I thought he was someone like me. So-"

"Oh no." Cynthia groaned.

"You _didn't_." Norman laughed. "As if the first two times didn't end badly enough, you had to go and give him the "come ramble with me" speech."

"Wait, wait, wait; let me guess…Soleceon Ruins…" Cynthia guessed.

"Echoing caverns…" Norman continued.

"Oh, let's not forget the shimmering Izu Reefs." Cynthia said. "Have you changed your speech since you laid it on us?"

"It wasn't…_exactly _word for word the same…" Roy mumbled

"You thought you could win Ash over with the same speech that got you kicked out of the Sinnoh League-" Cynthia said

"And punched in the jaw." Norman added. "That may be your problem; your lifestyle isn't as appealing as you think it is. That or you're speech sucks."

"I know that! I thought Ash was…"

"Like you?" Norman said thoughtfully.

"Get real, Roy." Cynthia said, taking a long swill from her drink and grimacing. "Your boy is one of a kind and nothing like you."

"Well, I can see that now." Roy mumbled, watching the ice swirl around the bottom of his glass.

"I'm not so sure." Norman said quietly. "I mean, you may be a grade-A flake-and-a-half and a deadbeat to boot but you're not all bad. You've got a lot of admirable qualities that might show themselves if you stuck around long enough."

"Like?" Cynthia pressed.

"You have a knack for sniffing out adventure, I'll give you that." Norman said. "There's never a dull moment on the road with you."

"Tell you the truth; life's been pretty quiet since I claimed the championship." Cynthia laughed. "You make fending off endless waves of arrogant teenagers hopped up on caffeine and deluded by their own worth seem boring by comparison."

"We had a good thing going, huh?" Roy said, somewhat hesitantly

"We had a _great_ thing going, the three of us." Norman said, lifting his glass in a silent toast.

"So why did it have to end?" Roy said. "Why couldn't we have just kept going on? What was stopping us?"

Norman sighed. "We had to grow up. You had Ash, I just had May and Cynthia had gone farther than any of us. We had lives that we couldn't just walk away from…well, I'll speak for Cynthia and myself."

"I've got a theory. You don't have to take it as the gospel truth but this is how I see things." Cynthia said, draining her glass with a satisfied smack of her lips. "Way, way, way, way, way…way back in the day, wealthy parents used to send their sons and daughters out into the world before they could inherit the family title or whatever. Back then, the classic trainer journey was some kind of spiritual test of character that would help kids become adults. The way they saw things, roughing it and battling Pokèmon gave the little brats perspective on the world. Made them responsible for themselves and the little Pokèmon that came with them. So, when they got back, they were all mature and stuff. So, the way I see it, things haven't changed much. The reason that so many people stop their journey is because they found what they were looking for. They found friends, found future husbands and wives and found out what they really wanted to do with the rest of their lives. Why keep going if you found what you're looking for?"

"So then you're saying I haven't grown up yet?" Roy said jokingly.

"Nope." Cynthia said bluntly. "Not yet. Not until you find what you're looking for."

"And _what _exactly am I looking for?" Roy said.

"Beats me. You'll know though. You'll find something someday that makes you want to stop somewhere for good." Cynthia said. "Still…I have to say I haven't had that much crazy kind of fear-for-your-life fun since…well actually since I joined Ash against Team Galactic last year."

"Wait…that was him?" Roy said in disbelief. "Ash was part of that nonsense?"

"Ash _orchestrated _that nonsense." Norman said. "He put out a call for help and _Gym Leaders _boarded up their Gyms and rushed to his side. Hell, he could have started his own Elite Four with the members that showed up."

"One way or another, through friends of friends of his friends, we all showed up." Cynthia said. "Because where you are obnoxious and generally dislikable, Ash makes friends as fast as he meets them. He told a couple dozen people that he was taking on a multinational crime syndicate hell bent on destroying the universe and all they said "Not without us."

"But he's not that different from you." Norman said. "He loves the open road as much as anyone. He just loves his little makeshift family more."

"I don't know. Maybe if Ash had travelled with me for a while things might have been different." Roy said. "Maybe if I had actually spent time raising him things could have…"

"Could have, would have, should have…" Cynthia said dismissively. "Too late for any of that now.

"Yeah, I guess…damn, I really screwed him up, didn't I?" Roy said.

"Nah." Norman said. "Look, you could have handled this a hell of a lot better than you did but you're not going to do any lasting damage. Anyone else would probably be reduced to a state of catatonic identity crisis but at worst Ash is probably…in Cerulean City."

"For what; the ocean view?" Roy said.

"Why would he be in…oh!" Cynthia winked knowingly. "Gotcha."

"Wait, why is he in Cerulean City?" Roy said.

"It's Misty." Norman said simply.

"I guess…though the mist probably won't roll in until morning-"

"Not the _mists_ you dunce…" Cynthia sighed. "I thought the wandering badge collector would _at least_ know the name of the Cerulean Gym Leader."

"May always tells me that Misty has a talent for straightening people out; namely your son." Norman said. "I wouldn't worry about it too much."

"Alright…" Roy said glumly.

"Oh, what; is that a hint of remorse I detect?" Cynthia said, nudging Roy with her elbow. "Of all the hearts you've broken, is this the only one that gives you pause?"

"I guess…I can't help it; I feel like this is all my fault." Roy admitted

"Well…" Cynthia said.

"I know, I know." Roy sighed.

"Kids, huh?" Norman said. "They have that effect on you. Truth be told, I'm here for my son and daughter's sake more than mine."

"Don't worry." Cynthia said. "Remorse is a good thing; it's a very _human _emotion. You pushed him one step too far but I wouldn't say you've totally blown it. Let him cool off and maybe…someday you two might patch things up."

"Yeah…" Roy said. "Maybe. I mean, if _I _were him, I wouldn't want to talk to me."

"Yeah, well that's Ash." Norman said.

"That's Ash, huh?" Roy said. "You know him pretty well, huh?"

"Oh, just secondhand info from my kids." Norman shrugged. "He's always flitting around the edges of whatever story she brings home. He's been a big part of her and Max's life and I think they're truly blessed for having been his friends."

Roy felt the corner mouth tug wistfully. "Sounds like a great kid."

"He's not bad." Norman chuckled. "Not bad at all. Oh, by the way, I'm sorry."

"For what?" Roy asked before Norman casually kicked his stool out from under him.

"For that." Norman said, simply.

"Ow…what the hell?" Roy groaned, rubbing his bruised side.

"Sorry but I promised your son I would do that…" Norman said. "It's not personal…well, it's kinda personal…a little…"

"Yeah, but…ow…" Roy groaned.

"Oh quit your bellyaching you _girl." _Cynthia said with a chuckle. Roy tried to scowl but try as he might, her laughter was contagious. For a second the years between them disappeared and they were young again. If it weren't for the bar they were leaning on, it could have been an open field or rocky path talking late into the night.

And to be honest, Roy hadn't been that happy in a long time.

The back door swung open and the bartender walked in. "Hey sorry about that; my son has this cough and my wife-hey!" He balked at Cynthia standing behind the counter, tossing an empty bottle in the trash. "What d'you think you're doing?"

"Oh hey!" Cynthia said casually leaning on the bar. "Listen, where do you keep your ice?"

* * *

Misty didn't have a lot of pet peeves, but one of her biggest was the phrase "one thing led to another" used to describe the saucy details of dates that ran longer than expected. It was a phrase Lily and Violet used when they came home the morning after a date looking particularly smug and Misty asked where they had been. They would giggle, deliver the line and give her the "one day, you'll understand look" that pissed her off to no end. Just cheap innuendo to cover their own embarrassment.

It wasn't until around one that morning that Misty really understood that, when fumbling with zippers and buttons and trying to get a makeshift bed set up on the couch, one didn't usually pays attention to "chain of events" as it were. If really pressed, she probably couldn't remember the trail of events that connected their first kiss on the couch to the steamy afterglow tangled in her spare sheets. She could remember a few tense glances, each asking silent permission to remove a particular scrap of clothing or kiss a recently exposed patch of skin but beyond that…one thing just led to another…which led to Misty resting her head on Ash's steadily rising and falling chest.

For a while, Misty just listened to his pounding heart mix wash over the sound of his lungs breathing in and out, in and out. His arms were lightly draped across her in a weak embrace as he absentmindedly rubbed the small of her back. She idly traced her fingers along his collarbone, wondering what to say now that they were thinking again. Now that her brain was working after blissfully running on auto-pilot, it was over thinking to make up for lost time. In the midst of the "what-do-I-do's" and the "what do I say's" Misty looked up and her eyes caught Ash's. At the same time they started talking, tripping over each other's words.

"Um, I should-"

"Maybe we should-sorry, you fir-."

"No, that's-"

"I mean if you insist-sorry, cut you off ag-"

"Alright if you-sorry, what were you goin-"

"What I meant was-do you want to start or should-"

"I let you finish a-damnit, I'm-"

"Sorry! I didn't mean to cut you off like-"

"That's no excuse, I'm sorr-"

"That doesn't mean I should have…sorry"

"Ah…sorry…"

"Sorry…"

And at the same time, they both stopped and caught their own bewildered expression mirrored in each other's face. And it was _funny_.

Misty tried her hardest to stifle a giggle but it let out as a snort instead which just set Ash off as he tried to hide his laugh in the top of her head. Something about the whole situation just struck them both as hilarious and they held on to each other as they tried to control their giggling fits.

After the tremors subsided, Misty was the first one to speak. "Oh man…that wasn't funny…"

"Yeah it was…" Ash said, wiping a tear away. "God…we always have to complicate things, huh?"

"Mm…" Misty agreed, shifting so they were lying face to face again. Acting on a sudden impulse she leaned in and kissed him again

"So…" Ash said, breaking away.

"So, what?" Misty said

"So what now?" Ash said a little uneasily.

"Now?" Misty put a finger on her lips and pretended to think about it. "Well, we could have an introspective, soul searching discussion about the status of our relationship in light of certain activities completed without the aid of clothing…"

"I think we need to get you away from those league reports for a while." Ash chuckled

"Or, we could go back to making out and see how things go from there." She suggested suggestively wiggling her eyebrows. "Find a _better _use for your lips, hm?"

"Okay, let's just pretend you didn't say that…" Ash chuckled. "Actually, before anything…_else_ happens…I wanted to-Ah! H-hey, c-c-cut it out, Misty!"

"Hmmm…" Misty paused in the middle of kissing Ash's throat. About half an hour earlier, she discovered that she could make his pulse jackrabbit through the roof by kissing the pulse point beneath his jaw so she had been alternating between kissing and nibbling his neck, taking perverse delight in how completely flustered he got with the gentlest pressure. "No."

"C-c'mon!" He tried to get away while balancing on the couch, fidgeting around until he could distract her lips with another heated kiss. Misty played along for a while, indulging in a few dissolute kisses, running her hands over his bare chest before tracing her lips along his jaw and back to the spot that made him blush and squirm.

"Uh uh, don't wanna."

"I'm…ah…I'm s-serious…"

"That's nice…"

"R-really, I'm trying to…ah…trying to say something…nnng…important…" Ash said, trying to keep his voice steady.

"Then…just…say…it…" Misty said

"You…y-you know I l-love you, right?"

Misty paused in mid kiss, letting out an undignified "Ehk?"

Ash took a second before responding, wondering if he had gone and said too much. "I…I love you."

Misty felt her own heartbeat rush out of control. "I…uh…y-you do?"

"Well…maybe not like…in love with you." Ash said hastily. "But I mean…I just feel like you're the most important person in my life right now…well, always really." He said with a bashful chuckle. "I can't really say why but…everything just seems so…right, when I'm around you. Am I making any sense?"

"Uh-huh." Misty said, not trusting herself to say anything more lest the fourteen year old Misty kick flip out of her chest and do a victory dance.

"Right…so anyway, what it's trying to say is that you've been my best friend…no, not quite like that. I don't know what to call our relationship now and honestly, I don't care." Ash paused as he sorted out what he wanted to say. "I miss you a lot when I'm gone; I really do. I'd always wonder what you were doing…who you were with…you know in the last year, when I would see something or do something that was pretty amazing, I'd always think about who wasn't there to share it with me. Sometimes Brock, sometimes May…always you. I missed you more than anyone."

"I…um, d-ditto." Misty said after a long pause.

"A-anyway." Ash said. "I know I'm not terribly poetic or deep or anything like that. Maybe if I was, I'd have something more memorable to say to tell you how much you mean to me. But…I just can't boil down ten years and thousands of whirling, swirling emotional…stuff into a pithy line or romantic sentence. So a-all I can…I l-love you because…you're like my favorite person in the whole world " He leaned in and kissed her to cover the heat rising in his cheeks. "And you're totally awesome in ways I can't even begin to describe." Another kiss. "And…you have a _really _cute butt." He said, finishing with a gentle squeeze to aforementioned cute butt.

"Hey!" Misty laughed, lightly slapping him across the chest.

"I'm sorry, but it's about time someone said it." Ash said seriously.

Misty shook her head as best she could, lazily running a hand through his hair. "No…you're not eloquent. You're too straightforward and honest for word games." She kissed him lightly on the lips. "I don't care much about words anyway. I don't care about labels or titles that try and quantify something so…_messy _as love. And I guess what I'm trying to say is…ditto."

"Ditto?" Ash said

"I used to think about…" Misty laughed. "I used to _fantasize _about having this talk with you."

"Really…" Ash said, suddenly perking up. "Go on…"

"No…it's too embarrassing." Misty said. "I practiced fluttery lines of prose and anguished declarations of undying devotion because I thought it was romantic and, at the time, I was operating on a fourteen year old's misconception of romance. Not that I'm any better today…" Misty chuckled.

"Hey, I'm in no position to judge." Ash said. "I'm much worse than you are at this type of thing."

"Oh, don't be so sure. I cleaned out my attic a few weeks ago and I ran across this box of my old notebooks and _oh god _was I melodramatic. All this stuff about butterflies in my stomach and dreams of moonlit confessions by the sea; I seriously counted the phrase "deep as the ocean" almost eighty times."

"I hope you weren't referring to me when you wrote that." Ash chuckled. "Because I'm hardly deeper than a wading pool."

"I was so embarrassed; I burned entire _journals _of that flowery crap."

"Ouch." Ash said.

"Don't take it personally." Misty said, kissing his cheek. "I just couldn't believe I wrote so much while saying nothing at all." Misty flipped over so she could face him in the half light coming from the window. "Now that you're here, all those pretty words about love and devotion seem…I don't know…cheap. Like they don't say what I want to say."

"And…what's that?" Ash said shakily.

Misty took a deep breath. "That I once fell in love with you and never really fell out. That I've been falling in and out of love with you for the last ten years of my life. No matter how long I go without seeing you or how much I just want to be your friend…it always comes back you. And there are a million and one reasons that I love you; if I still had one of those stupid journals I could have probably read you a bulleted list. I could tell you that I love your unfailing optimism or how you always manage to come ahead by your own strength or how every day I'm with you, it feels like a new and exciting adventure. But all those things sound meaningless to me. I can't tell you how I feel so _this_-" Misty leaned in and kissed him full on the lips for a long, lingering moment. "_This_ is the best I can do."

Ash sat back dazed for a second, a bemused half-grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. He didn't know what to say; the best he could do was something along the lines of, "I…ah…thank you."

Misty laughed, pillowing her head on his chest. "Thank _you._"

"I need you." Ash said softly. "You make me…better, somehow. I don't know why-"

"Oh, that's just my natural therapeutic personality working with my allegedly cute butt." Misty said cheekily.

"Alright…" Ash laughed. "So…can I stay with you?"

Misty sighed. "Ash, you don't have to give up on everything just to stay close."

"I'm not, I'm not. I just don't like it when we don't see each other." Ash said, twirling a strand of her hair. "We're a good pair, you and me."

Misty smiled against his chest. "Yeah…I would love that."

"Mmm…good." Ash said sleepily. Out of a half lidded eye, he saw misty fish her phone out of her sweats on the coffee table and punch a few numbers in. "What'cha doin?"

"Sending a message." Misty said, closing the phone with a satisfied snap.

* * *

And as fast as she wrote it, a message buzzed out across the world.

In a laboratory a few towns down, Gary had just fallen asleep when his phone cheerfully chirped and woke him to groggily read Misty's message. He smiled in a satisfied way before drifting back to sleep on a pile of research notes and textbooks, his last thoughts being "Of course he is."

In Hoenn, May's hysterical rampage was brought to a sigh of relief when she and her boys got the message. She nodded happily, quickly grabbing Drew and Brendan by the arm and frog marching them to the nearest 24-hour mini-mart for some celebratory ice cream. Drew, for once, didn't protest.

In Sinnoh, Dawn cam out of a shower in one of Volkner's old shirts to find her phone waiting with the news that her brother was fine and that he'd call when he could. She nearly tackled Volkenr in joy who, though ruffled, was happy because she was.

Two words reached Brock in Veilstone, made Delia smile to no one in particular and made Tracy literally jump for joy.

Two words reached Cynthia and Norman outside a smoky old bar halfway around the world. Two words caused a strange blend of emotions to whirl through Roy as he read the words on the screen.

A single message let everyone sleep well that night.

"**He's Okay."

* * *

**

But back in Cerulean City, Misty and Ash were in the middle of their twelfth goodnight kiss, curiously exploring their changing relationship. Slowly, their movements became slower and more lethargic until the general opinion was that they needed sleep because it was two in the goddamned morning. They thought of moving to Misty's bed but it was becoming far too warm and comfy on the couch and they thought of at least getting dressed again but there was the small problem of neither of them really wanting the other to.

So, in a tangle of sheets and sore limbs, they snuggled themselves together and bid their final goodnights. Misty stayed awake for a few seconds after Ash, listening to his breath grow slower and deeper as he finally rested with a small smile on his face. She wanted to watch over him a little longer but she found the lure of her new favorite pillow too much to resist. So she settled down against his chest, burying her face in the crook of his neck listened as the sound of falling rain lulled them both to sleep.

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

_Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop…_

**ALL LIVES TOUCH OTHER LIVES **

**TO CREATE SOMETHING **

**ANEW AND ALIVE**

**The End

* * *

**

_**AN: **__Boy, howdy, does this feel good to finish. This chapter in particular was over twelve thousand words in length...and no, I'm not going to do the Vegeta gag.  
_

_This originally came to me as a plot bunny during my freshman year of college and now, going into my junior year, I'm putting it to its well deserved rest. A labor of love, I want to thank everyone who enjoyed this story, especially to those who were kind enough to leave a review. I love hearing back with what you liked and what you think could have worked better. I'm always trying to refine my style so please let me know what you liked or didn't like. _

_Once again, this was a work of fiction __created for entertainment purposes only. The author does not own Pokemon nor is affiliated with Nintendo, Gamefreak, TV Tokyo or Pokemon USA. Support the original material and support Pokeshipping! _

_O! T! P! _

_O! T! P!_

_O…T…um, yeah…you get the picture_

_With that, I think we'll leave these two alone for a while ;) _

_Leave a review while I get back to writing my Lucky Star! Once again, thanks for giving me an audience for my fluffy fiction. _

_Much Love, _

_DOTMW _


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